Fading maples
by ChinenYuri4eva
Summary: Every time I saw him, he managed to piss me off. Whenever he was within a ten-metre radius of me, he would do something that angered me. Even so, I felt a strong connection with him, I trusted him probably a lot more than I should have. FujixOC
1. Startling Cerulean eyes

**Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis, nor do I own the characters in Prince of Tennis. The only things I own are my ocs.**

**Seven Years ago…**

_'Here comes the tickle monster!' hollered my father as he chased me. He held his arms out and ran behind me; occasionally poking me in the sides and making me scream and laugh. 'Risa-chan, come over here, I'll save you from the tickle monster!' my mother yelled, holding out her arms and signalling me towards her._

_I was shrieking and running as fast as my legs would take me._

_When I reached the arms of my mother she gave me a big bear hug before pushing me behind her back._

_'Tickle monster, I suggest you give up now!' she said in a serious tone of voice. _

_'Never! I shall not give up till Risa-chan is rolling around on the floor dying from laughter,' replied my dad in an equally serious tone._

_The two of them stared at each other intensely, and a very serious atmosphere began to form but it was all ruined when both of them burst out laughing. They both fell to the floor laughing and soon I joined in too. _

_I was glad that everything seemed to be returning to normal. Recently my parent's relationship had been rather rocky. Mother had been saying things that father didn't want to hear and I sometimes heard them argue in the middle of the night._

**_Five Years ago..._**

_I had been in bed for 2 hours already, but I still couldn't manage to get to sleep. I rolled onto my side and checked my bedside clock for about the millionth time. _

_10:30_

_In just 1 hour and a half it would be my birthday. From downstairs I could hear my parents voices, just slightly muffled. _

_'I bet they're talking about my birthday present,' I thought smiling to myself._

_I lay in bed for another ten minutes before getting up. I was tired of waiting until 12:00 for my presents so I decided to sneak downstairs to eavesdrop on my parent's conversation._

_'Maybe I'll find out what my presents are,' I thought smiling cheekily._

_I slipped on a thin, woollen jacket before sneaking downstairs. I moved slowly and stealthily, making sure that none of the wooden floorboards creaked. When I finally reached the bottom of the stairs, I sat down on the final step and pressed my ear against the wall._

_'When were you going to tell me?' hissed my father._

_He was speaking softly, but I could hear the anger and disbelief in his voice._

_'So she isn't our daughter?' I heard him say. _

_I tilted my head in confusion. _

_'What are they talking about, of course I'm their daughter,' I thought._

_'You said that you fetched her back from the family that you left her with!' he exclaimed._

_'When I went to fetch our daughter from the old couple who was looking after her, they weren't there anymore. I found out that they were in a car accident and the Risa-chan was in the car with them. None of them survived. When I had heard what had happened, I sat at a nearby park to clear my mind and by chance I came across a girl who looked exactly like Risa-chan. I found out that she had run away from the orphanage and that her name was also Risa. I knew then that it was fate that I had met her. I immediately adopted her and did all the paper work secretly.' _

_'So you're saying that the girl I believed was my daughter was actually just a girl from the orphanage who happened to have the same name as our real daughter?' my father said through clenched teeth. _

_I leaned against the wall and wrapped my arms around myself. This wasn't what I had expected to hear. I had hoped that my parents were laughing and joking around with each other while wrapping my birthday presents. Instead, I found out that they weren't really my parents at all. I buried my head in my arms and I felt a few tears leak out of the side of my eyes. I just let them trickle down my face slowly._

**_Slap~_**

_My head jerked up at the sudden noise. I positioned my eye in front of a crack in the wall, trying to see what was happening. I saw my mother clutching her cheek with tears in her eyes and my father's hand near her face. On his face was an expression I had never seen before, and it frightened me._

_From that day onward, my parent's relationship changed dramatically. My father never really trusted my mother after that and sometimes I would see my mother cry in the bathroom with her arms and legs covered with bruises. Our lives had never been the same since that night._

**_Three years ago.._**

_My father was outside with all of his luggage and car keys. Mother was outside too, clutching his arm and begging him not to leave. I knew exactly why he wanted to leave. It was all because I wasn't his real daughter. Ever since he found out that my mother had lied to him about me being his daughter, he no longer trusted her. He also didn't look at me in the same way. His eyes had always held nothing but affection, but now he looked at me as if I were nothing more than a stranger. Our family had grown apart over the years and now we were no longer going to be a complete family._

_I watched as my father pushed my mother aside and got into the car. He drove away but my mum chased after him. When she finally gave up, she kneeled at the sidewalk crying at watching as my father's car disappeared further and further into the distance._

_He had a new family now. Even though my mother knew he had cheated on her with another woman she still loved him. Even when she found out he had two children with the same woman she still loved him._

_I looked out of the window again. My mother was still kneeling in the same spot and crying. Even now when he had left her, she still loved him._

**Present**

I woke up sweating heavily, beads of sweat trickled down my forehead and my pyjamas and blankets were soaked.

A single tear slid down my face and many others soon followed but I wiped them away hastily, mentally scolding myself for allowing myself to cry about my childhood yet again.

I quickly had a shower, got dressed and grabbed my camera. I was going for a walk. Hopefully I would find something worth photographing on the way. Walking and photography was what I always did after I had nightmares about my father. They helped me calm down, it was my personal way of relieving stress, sort of like meditation I guess.

I walked around absentmindedly trying to think about anything other than my father. I walked aimlessly for hours and hours until I finally came to a stop. I had reached a place that was so familiar. This place… I thought that I had finally rid myself of all memories of this place. I thought I had forgotten it for good. I stared at my feet and a small yet painful smile appeared on my face for a brief second. It seemed like my footsteps had brought me here of their own accord, back to this sweet yet bitter place.

_'Here comes the tickle monster!' hollered my father as he chased me. He held his arms out and ran behind me; occasionally poking me in the sides and making me scream and laugh. 'Risa-chan, come over here, I'll save you from the tickle monster!' my mother yelled, holding out her arms and signalling me towards her._

_I was shrieking and running as fast as my legs would take me._

I sat just staring at my feet for a very long time. When I finally looked up again, I glanced at various parts of the park before looking down again._' Nothing's really changed,'_ I thought.

I inhaled deeply before getting to my feet.

'_I really need to clear my mind_,' I muttered. Since walking didn't do the job, I decided to run. It was the number one thing for releasing stress and calming my mind.

I sprinted through the park, letting the wind whip my hair around. My clothes fluttered and I felt a rush of exhilaration. I ran faster and faster and faster until I reached a more deserted area of the park. When I slowed and finally stopped, my head was pounding, my heart was thumping and I felt great.

I sat on the damp grass and scanned my surroundings. Looking around, I realised that I had run all the way to the other side of the park. As I was exploring this unfamiliar section of the park, I looked for something worth photographing. I searched the area before I noticed a small but compelling spot of dark blue behind some plants and tree branches. For some reason I just couldn't take my eyes off it. I had a feeling that something was calling out to me so I followed my instincts.

I ran towards it as fast as a possibly could, brushing past tree branches as if they were flies. As I approached, I could feel my chest tightening. In front of me was a single pale blue rose that was absolutely breathtaking even though it had begun to wither.

The petals looked soft and delicate and the edges were slightly frilled giving it an air of elegance, but what was most amazing was the colour. The centre petals were snow while, the next layer of petals had a tinge of blue and as the layers progressed, the colours darkened ever so slightly.

Slowly, I brought my hands up to the flower, allowing my fingers to caress the fragile petals ever so slightly while I marvelled over the sheer beauty of the rose. I was enticed and completely in a trance.

'_Click'_

The noise was very faint and barely audible but it was just loud enough for me to hear. My head whipped up and I turned towards the intruder. He was a boy who was not much older than me, with fair hair and eyes curved into half moons.

'I'm sorry for taking a photo of you without your permission, but it was such a good moment, I just couldn't let it pass' he said with an apologetic smile on his face.

For some reason I just couldn't feel angry when he smiled at me so I just remained silent, not knowing what to say or do. I felt very awkward but luckily for me continued talking.

'Would you like to see it? I'll delete it if you don't like it' he said, handing me the camera.

Hesitantly, I took the camera from his hands and looked at the picture. In the photo, my cheeks were flushed with excitement, my lips slightly parted with awe and my palms were delicately cupping the pale rose. I could hardly believe that that girl in the photo was me. The angle and the lighting in the photo were phenomenal and he had captured the moment so well that I could easily tell that he was no beginner in photography.

'You're very good at photography,' I said complimenting him while handing him back his camera.

'A photo is only as good as its subject,' he said with his everlasting smile still plastered to his face.

I instantly felt my face grow hot. I shifted around uncomfortably, not knowing how to react to this sudden praise. To my surprise, I heard the boy chuckle. It was a light, feminie sound, like a girl's laughter, but strangely it suited him.

'There's no need to look so uncomfortable,' he said, now breaking out into laughter.

'Has no one ever complimented you before?' he asked jokingly.

I puffed my cheeks out, feeling slightly offended.

'_Click'_

'Of course I've been complimented before,' I said holding my chin up high.

'_Click'_

My eyes widened as he held his camera in my face showing two pictures of me. In the first one, I had my cheeks puffed out and in the second one, I had my chin held high. In both of them I looked absolutely dreadful, especially in the second one. The angle that he had taken the picture from made me look ten times worse than I should've looked. Because my chin was tilted upwards, my nostrils were in clear view and he had taken advantage of that by purposely dipping the camera slightly below my face before capturing the picture. My nostrils looked as wide as saucers!

I held my nose suddenly feeling self-conscious. I could see him lifting his camera up ready to take another picture. I glared at him.

'Don't. You. Even. Think. About. It.' I said annunciating each word clearly.

He chuckled and held his hands up in defeat.

'Alright. You win.' He said.

I smiled triumphantly before turning away from him. I took out my camera and began taking photos of my own. I had to get as many pictures of that blue rose before I left. The next time I visited the park, the rose would probably be withered and god knows how long I would have to wait before I found another rose that was just as pretty.

At first I was enjoying myself forgetting everything around me until I felt a strong and steady gaze on by back and I realised that the boy with the light brown hair was still here. I had totally forgotten about him! I looked back at him and saw him staring at me with his eyes wide open; they were no longer curved into half moons.

His eyes were a startling shade of blue, breathtaking yet eerie at the same time. Those eyes held so many emotions, many which I couldn't comprehend, but I could see from his eyes that he too had had a rough past. For some reason I felt like running away. Looking in his eyes scared me. They seemed to hold wisdom far beyond his years and he seemed to have experienced things that he shouldn't have at his age.

To my relief he shut his eyes again and the everlasting smile that was usually plastered to his face returned. I heaved a sigh of relief.

'_Click'_

He had taken another picture of me. He was laughing as he viewed the picture he had just taken.

'You're amazing at your expressions, have you ever considered becoming a model?' he asked teasingly, while trying to hold in his laughter.

My eyes flashed with anger as he held his camera in front of me. My head was down and the light was in my eyes, giving them an evil glint. My chin was pretty much pressed against my neck showing a slight double chin. I looked absolutely horrible and fat.

I stood up abruptly and pointed an accusing finger at him.

'Don't you know that it's rude to take a picture of someone you don't even know?' I yelled angrily while stomping my foot. I must've stomped really hard because at that moment, amber maple leaves began to fall.

'Wow, how much do you weigh? I bet you're heavy enough to create an earthquake!' he said laughing

I felt my cheeks and ears burn from both embarrassment and anger. I was about to hurl a string of insults at him but closed my mouth when I saw him discretely trying to lift his camera.

I held one hand in front of me.

'Don't even think about it!' I hissed.

This guy was really pissing me off.

'Hurry up and delete them. NOW!' I said in the most commanding tone I could manage.

I looked over his shoulder, making sure that he deleted all of them. He deleted the three ugly pictures and the remaining picture was the pretty one. He looked at me.

'Can I at least keep this one?' he asked.

I knew it was not a good idea to let a stranger keep a photo of me but for some reason I trusted him, even though he had pissed me off. Was it because I could tell he had a bad past just like me? I didn't know myself, but I decided to let him keep the picture.

For the next half hour we just continued taking photos and occasionally he would help me with the angle and lighting of my photos. We didn't say much, but through this short period of time, my trust for him increased dramatically.

When I finally decided to head home he asked for my number. I raised my eyebrows. Even though I trusted him, we had still only just met.

Seeing my hesitation he laughed and said, 'I want your number so I can send you that photo of you and the rose,' he said.

'Unless you don't want it,' he added.

My eyes lit up.

'Of course I want it!'

Without a second thought, I entered my mobile number into his phone.

'Expect the picture tonight!' he yelled.

Even though I was already far away by that time, I had heard him. I waved back in response.

_**That evening…. **_

As promised, I received the photograph of me and the rose but I didn't expect him to send me anything other than that. To my surprise, he sent me three other photos. I looked at them and felt anger boil inside me. I had seen him delete those ugly photos with my own eyes! That sneaky little thing… I growled. He was going to get it the next time I saw him, and for some reason, I felt that I was going to be seeing him a lot more…

**End of Chapter One**

How was it? Please review! Any comments or advice will be greatly appreciated.


	2. Second encounter

**Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis, nor do i own the characters in it. I only own my ocs.**

Thank you to everyone who reviewed my first chapter. I was extremely happy when I read my reviews. I hope that you guys will continue to review. Once again, thank you very, very much. Well, here is the second chapter! Enjoy!!

Time skip~ 6 Months Later

It had been a while since I last saw that annoying boy with the startling, cerulean blue eyes. After that encounter 6 months ago, I had a feeling that I would be seeing him much, much more, I don't know why I felt that way, but for some reason, something in my heart told me that I would. It seemed like my intuition had been wrong though, I hadn't seen or heard from him for a very long time.

Every day after school I would head to the exact same place where we had met and spend hours there, but he didn't show up, not even once. Last month I had given up. I had finally come to terms with the fact that I would probably never see him again. I felt disappointed, even though I shouldn't have. He was just a stranger that I had known for slightly over an hour! Moreover he was an annoying, rude and mean stranger!

I sighed and screamed into my pillow. I felt so confused and frustrated. I had been pondering that guy for 6 months yet I had barely known him for 2 hours! How stupid could I get? Sighing again, I reached over to my bedside table and grabbed my camera. Time to ease my mind; I was going for a walk.

I strolled around, contemplating on where to go. I was definitely not going to that park again, he was probably not going to be there so I didn't want to give myself false hope. Plus that blue rose had already withered long ago, so there was no reason for me to go there.

After walking around aimlessly for god knows how long, I finally decided to go shopping. The latest version of the Kodak digital camera was released just last week and I could probably just scrape up enough money for one. I smiled at the thought. I was really in need of a new camera; my current one was a really old model.

After I found the nearest camera store I started browsing around all the different cameras until I found what I was looking for. There it was! I found it. At the back of the store where all the expensive cameras were kept, I saw the latest Kodak camera. I stared at it longingly. Rummaging through my pockets, I started counting up all the money I had saved.

$798.60. I beamed. That should be enough! I looked up at the price tag of the camera and my jaw dropped. I was $5 short. I looked up at the beautiful, gleaming Kodak camera. It was so glorious… My eyes went hazy as I dreamed about owning the digital camera right before my eyes.

'_Click'_

Instantly I snapped back to reality. This situation…it seemed so familiar. Slowly I turned around and sure enough, there stood the boy who had been occupying my thoughts for the past 6 months. I was gob smacked. I didn't know whether to be relieved that I finally saw him again or angry with him for taking another ugly picture of me.

He smiled at me. 'Nice to see you again,' he said. I stared at him. Slowly, I put my arms out in front of me so that I was in a zombie like position and walked towards him. He didn't lift his camera to take an ugly picture of me like I expected him to; he just stood there with an amused expression on his face.

I continued to walk towards him with my arms outstretched until I was right in front of him. Carefully, I placed both hands onto his shoulders. To my surprise, he didn't disappear or fade away like a hologram. A goofy smile appeared on my face, I wasn't dreaming! I had finally seen him again!

I noticed him lifting his camera, trying to get another picture of me. My smile grew wider. I was now absolutely sure that this was the same person I had met 6 months ago. He was the only person rude enough to try and take ugly pictures of me.

I wagged a finger in front of his face.

'No more ugly pictures!' I said.

He laughed.

'Okay, okay. No more ugly pictures.' He agreed.

'What are you doing here?' he asked.

'Buying a new camera obviously, this is a camera store!' I said.

He chuckled.

'Which one do you have your eyes on?'

I stared dreamily at the Kodak camera.

'That one…'

I was lost in my own world, fantasizing about owning the camera. I was so absorbed in my thoughts that I didn't hear the faint _click _of his camera as he took another picture.

I remained completely unaware until I heard his chuckling. I looked at him strangely. That chuckle… he probably did something cheeky again. He was holding his camera and staring at something that obviously seemed very amusing. I stood on my tippy toes and looked over his shoulder.

On the camera screen there was a photograph of me looking at the Kodak camera with hazy eyes and my mouth was hanging open. Worst of all, there was dribble coming out of the corner of my mouth! I quickly touched the corner of my mouth. Sure enough, there was some dribble there. I quickly wiped it off. I was extremely embarrassed and angry of course.

This picture had to be the worst one he had taken so far.

'You promised not to take any more ugly pictures!' I yelled as my voice shook with anger.

He smiled serenely.

'What ugly picture? This is no ugly picture. It is a work of art.' He said, as if he had done nothing wrong.

I would've pounced on him and ripped out his hair right then and there but the sales assistant came right at that moment asking if we needed any help

The blue-eyed boy smiled politely and declined.

I was still fuming after the sales assistant left.

'_I'm so stupid! I can't believe I wanted to see this guy!_' I mentally screamed.

'I'm leaving,' I announced as I turned my back on him and began walking away.

'What about the camera?' he asked.

I stared at it dreamily for a second with my hand over my mouth, just in case I dribbled again.

'I don't have enough,' I said sadly. 'Bye' After giving him one last wave I walked off.

Once I was out of the shop, I sighed. I really wanted that camera. To my surprise I felt someone shove something into my hand. I lifted the item to my face. A $5 note!

I scanned the crowd around the camera store trying to find the person who was kind enough to give me the money I needed.

'Boo!'

'Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh' I screamed so loudly that everyone on the streets stopped and turned to look at me.

My face was beet red as I murmured a quick apology before turning behind me to scream at the culprit.

I spun around probably a bit too fast because I bumped my head on something hard. I fell to the floor and clutched my head. I looked up. It was that blue-eyed boy again!

Six months ago I didn't even see him once but after that encounter at the camera store, I was seeing him everywhere! How ironic.

'Why do you like embarrassing me so much?' I asked while clutching my throbbing head.

'It's fun,' he said, smiling sadistically.

'Well anyway, you have enough money for that camera you wanted. Go get it.' He said.

My eyes widened.

'It was you who gave me the money!' I exclaimed as my eyes lit up. I bowed and yelled a quick thank you over my shoulder before running into the store.

5 Minutes Later

I was humming happily as I walked out of the store. I had finally gotten that Kodak camera. I patted it gently as if it were a cat.

'I'm going to look after you very well' I said, beaming at the camera.

'Why are you talking to your camera?'

It was that blue-eyed boy again. His eyebrows were raised and he had a very amused expression plastered onto his face.

I just laughed and bowed once again.

'Thank you very much!' I said. 'I'm indebted to you.'

'Indeed you are.' He replied.

I choked on my own saliva. This wasn't what I had expected to hear.

I thought he would say 'It's okay, go enjoy your camera!'

I shuddered. I was naïve to think that he would say that. After all, he had the mind of a devil.

'What do you want me to do?' I asked trying not to show how nervous I was.

A devilish grin appeared on his face.

A single thought ran through my head.

'_Oh crap'_

I shifted uncomfortably, thinking about every possible thing he could make me do. With each thought, I grew more and more uncomfortable. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore.

'JUT TELL ME!!' I screamed.

'_Click'_

He viewed the picture on his camera and smiled.

'Just let me keep all the pictures I've taken of you so far, including this one.' he said.

I stared at him, flabbergasted. His request really threw me off. I thought about it carefully. The pictures he had taken of me were pretty horrendous, but since he had the mind of a devil, he could've made me do something much, much worse for him. The safest choice was probably be to agree with his request.

'Okay,' I agreed. 'But you have to keep them to yourself; you can't show other people.'

He nodded.

I heaved a sigh of relief. His request wasn't as bad as i thought it would be.

I checked the time on my watch and turned to him.

'I better get going, I've been out for a while now' I said

I thanked him once again for lending me the money before walking away. I had walked only a short distance from the camera store before I realised something. I had never asked him for his name. All this time, I had just remembered him as the boy with the startling cerulean blue eyes or the blue-eyed boy.

I ran back to where we were just a few minutes ago. There was no sign of him. I ran through the crowds, trying to get even the tiniest glimpse of him. I searched for almost 30 minutes. He was nowhere to be found, and who knows when I would see him next.

I was going to head home but I decided against it and instead towards the park where I had first met him. I zipped up my jacket and wrapped my arms around myself. It was autumn and the weather was getting slightly chillier. The trees were pretty much bare and all the leaves were scattered on the ground. Everywhere I walked, there was a soft crunching sound of maple leaves underneath my feet. I smiled; the maple leaves brought back memories.

'_Don't you know that it's rude to take a picture of someone you don't even know?' I yelled angrily while stomping my foot. I must've stomped really hard because at that moment, amber maple leaves began to fall._

'_Wow, how much do you weigh? I bet you're heavy enough to create an earthquake!' he said laughing__._

I sighed and wondered when I would see him again.

**End of Chapter 2**

I hoped you guys enjoyed the second chapter. I'm sorry about the length though. It's only about half the length of the first chapter. If any readers are unsatisfied I'll be sure to edit this chapter. Also I apologise for the abrupt ending. I'll change that too if anyone is unsatisfied. Reviews are highly appreciated!!


	3. New friend

**Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis or any of its characters**

Thank you to all the people who have reviewed for me so far. I love hearing all your comments. Also thank you to all the people who have added my story to their favourites. If you guys could just review once, I'll appreciate it a lot.

To Sadari: I hope that your question is answered in this chapter.

Well here is the 3rd chapter!

**Once month later**

I didn't have much time to think about the blue-eyed boy for the past few weeks. Two weeks ago my mother decided that we would be moving so I was rather busy trying to clean and pack everything.

'Risa-chan, are you ready?' called my mother.

'Yep, let's get going,' I said, dragging my luggage downstairs.

Once I reached the bottom of the stairs, I saw my mother standing in the doorway with all her luggage. She smiled happily at me, but I could tell that something was wrong. Her eyes were swollen and I could tell that her smile was slightly forced.

In her right hand, she was gripping something very tightly, as if she was afraid that it would disappear at any second. My expression hardened. Was that what I think it was…? I snatched the object from my mother's hands. Instantly, tears leaked down her face.

'Risa-chan, what do you think you're doing?' cried my mother.

I stared at the photo frame. There was a picture of my mother and father on their wedding day. They both looked very happy. My father's arm was wrapped around my mother's waist and they were staring at each other lovingly.

My eyes watered, but I refused to let the tears come out. Instead I bit my lip hard, hard enough that I drew blood.

Slowly a single tear leaked out of one of my eyes and a flood of tears followed. My mother sobbed as she tried to wrench the photo frame out of my hands. Instantly, I moved it out of her reach.

'How could you still love him, even after he left us penniless? He dumped you for another woman! Can't you accept that?' I asked, screaming till my voice was slightly hoarse.

'Risa-chan, give it back!' my mother begged.

I gripped the photo frame tightly in my hands before running out of the door. I wasn't going to let my mother keep it, that picture would do her more harm than good. My mother chased after me.

'Risa-chan, Risa-chan!'

She screamed my name over and over again.

It pained me to hear her scream and beg for the photo, but no matter what, I wasn't going to let her keep it. Tears clouded my vision as I ran. I fell many times, scraping my arms and legs on the hard, concrete road, but I just pulled myself up and kept on running. I just had to get that picture away from her.

After tripping yet again, I pushed my palms against the floor and tried to get up. Physically and mentally I was exhausted. My nose was running like a tap and tears were still running freely down my face. I was too tired to move so I just kneeled there crying my eyes out.

Eventually my mother reached me and the first thing she did was try to get that photo back. We pulled it back and forth like tug-o-war before it flew out of our hands. It fell to the floor and the glass photo frame around the picture shattered. We both stared at the ruined picture, lying in a pile of maple leaves.

My mother let out a blood-curdling wail and sank to the floor. We both stayed in the same positions for hours. When my tears had finally dried up, I moved closer to my mother and put a hand on her shoulder to comfort her. She slapped it away.

She stood up slowly, her eyes were blood red and she had an expression on her face that I couldn't comprehend. Instinctively I took a step back.

'Mother, I did what was best for you,' I whispered.

I received no reply. I stepped closer to her and tried once again.

'Mother…'

I felt a sharp pain on my cheek. I looked up. I felt shocked and hurt. This was the first time I had ever gotten hit by my mother and the pain was like an electric current that had been sent through my body.

'How could you do that to me? That was the last memory I had of your father!' she screamed.

Tears leaked down her face. She was crying again. She stepped closer to me and hit me across the head repeatedly. I just stayed still and let her release all her anger, frustration and sadness.

Soon I felt a wave of dizziness overcome me. My head was throbbing and my whole body ached. My eyes rolled to the back of my head and my eyelids drooped. I fell backward, straight onto a pile of maple leaves. My mother didn't bother to try stopping me from falling, thinking that the leaves would break my fall. What she didn't realise, was that it was the same pile of maple leaves that held the shattered glass from the photo frame.

**2 Days Later **

My vision was cloudy; the whole room seemed to be swirling around me. Where was I? I didn't recognise this room. Looking to the side I saw my mother sleeping on a chair. I looked down around the room. I was in a hospital!

I racked my brain and tried to recall the events that had happened. When I finally remembered, I started crying again. I never expected something like this would happen to me and my mother. It was all because of father. He had ruined our lives. If he hadn't left my mother so heartbroken, she wouldn't have become so emotionally unstable.

I pulled the blankets over my head and started sobbing quietly. I don't know how long I stayed like that. After a long time, I felt someone gently lift the blankets off my head. It was my mother. She was crying as she stroked my hair. She kept apologising over and over again while hugging me. I wanted to tell her it was alright and that I would love her no matter what, but I was crying too hard to say anything.

An hour later I was released from the hospital but I had a very unsightly bandage wrapped all around my head. Once I was home, I grabbed my luggage and loaded my belongings into a small van. Originally mother had planned for us to move two days ago, but the unexpected event that occurred prevented us to do so.

As the van drove away, I looked out of the window, mentally saying goodbye to all my favourite places. Since we were moving to a place about an hour away, I wouldn't be coming back often and my chances of seeing the blue-eyed boy had also just slimmed down a little bit more. My eyes dimmed a little.

Once we had reached our new home, I didn't unpack like I should've. I decided to go exploring instead. I wanted to forget everything that happened two days ago and start with a clean slate in a new town.

I roamed around the unfamiliar streets and stores trying to remember all the places and where they were situated. Occasionally I entered some stores if I thought they looked interesting. The town I had moved to was much bigger than the one I had previously lived in so there was a lot to see. I hadn't even gone to half the places town and my legs already felt as heavy as lead.

As I was heading back home, I rested on a bench on the sidewalk. I was trying to ease the pain in my legs and head. I still hadn't fully recovered from my little incident a couple of days ago so my head was throbbing madly. I leaned back on the bench and closed my eyes. I was enjoying the silence until…

'Watch out!' I head someone yell.

My eyes snapped open and I lifted my head up to take a look at what was going on. I saw a tennis ball zooming towards my face so I raised my arms instinctively. Whoever had hit the ball was extremely powerful because I felt my arm muscles tense at the strong impact.

Even though I had only made contact with the ball for a second, my arm already felt shaky and numb. I lifted my hand to my forehead and wiped away the beads of sweat that had formed on my forehead. Luckily the ball hadn't collided with my head; otherwise I would probably have to spend another 2 days in hospital.

'Nya! I'm so sorry! Are you okay?'

The person who had spoke had a very bubbly cheerful voice, but I could hear that it was edged with concern.

I looked up.

'I should be fine. I don't have a fractured bone or anything serious, but I might just get a really large bruise.' I replied while inspecting my arm.

The red haired boy looked panicked. He bowed and apologised over and over again.

'Really I'm fine, there's no need to apologise so many times,' I said, smiling at him.

Convinced that I was all right, the red haired boy grinned widely at me.

'How about this? I'll treat you to some ice cream as an apology.' He said. I wasn't even given a chance to reply. He just grabbed my hand and dragged me off to an ice cream parlour.

**At the Ice cream parlour**

'Umm… I'll have mango, strawberry, melon, boysenberry, chocolate and caramel. Ahhh! Hold on. I want vanilla too please!'

I stared at the red haired boy like he was crazy. No wait, scrap that, he was crazy. How could he eat so much? He looked at me expectantly.

'Order anything you want!' he said.

'Umm. Just melon will be fine.' I said to the waitress who was seemed rather busy batting her eyelashes at the red haired boy.

He looked appalled. Did I do something wrong?

'That's too little, nya!" He exclaimed. 'Don't be shy, order whatever you want or I'll order for you!"

I looked at him, feeling horrified as I thought about all the calories I would gain if he ordered for me.

'I'll take mango and strawberry too then.'

The red haired boy looked like he was going to convince me to order more so I quickly opened my mouth to speak.

'I already ate lunch so I'm pretty full.'

He looked rather gloomy for a second but he seemed to accept the response. He quickly thanked the waitress for taking our orders before turning his attention to me again. The flirty waitress seemed reluctant to leave and she kept glancing at him as she left, but he didn't seem to notice. She scowled and gave me a dirty glare.

I bit my lip and tried really hard to stop myself from bursting out laughing. The red haired boy had this really clueless look on his face and he had his brows furrowed together as tried to figure out what was so funny.

He seemed like an innocent and oblivious type of person so I doubted he was going to figure out what I found so amusing so instead, I engaged in a conversation with him.

'You know, you dragged me all the way to this ice cream shop yet you haven't introduced yourself to me yet.' I told him.

His eyes widened.

'Oh right! I'm Kikumaru Eiji, nya,' he said, holding out his hand. 'Sorry for not introducing myself earlier.'

I smiled.

'It's all right Eiji. I'm Nanami Risa but you're free to just call me Risa.' I said grasping his hand. He grinned like a Cheshire cat and shook my hand vigorously. 'Very nice to meet you Risa-chan!'

While we waited for our ice cream, we continued to talk.

'Risa-chan, how come I've never seen you around before?' he questioned.

'I just moved here today actually' I answered.

He bobbed up and down in his chair like a little kid.

'Do you know what school you're attending?' He asked excitedly.

I remember my mother mentioning it once…Argghhh… What was it …?

I shook my head sadly.

'Sorry Eiji, I don't remember the name.'

A gloomy expression appeared on his face but luckily, our ice cream arrived at that moment. His expression cheered up immediately and he began stuffing himself with ice cream. I smiled at the sight. Although he was the same age as me, I couldn't help but think of him as a younger brother.

Within 10 minutes, we both finished our ice cream and we just sat and talked. I was enjoying myself so much that I totally lost track of time. In the middle of our conversation, my phone rang. I smiled apologetically at Eiji before I answered my phone.

'Risa-chan! Where are you? I'm very sorry for hitting you, just please come back home. I love you very much Risa-chan. I don't know what I'd do without you.'

I could barely make out the words because my mother was sobbing so much.

'Mother, I didn't run away from home. I was just exploring the town.' I said feeling rather alarmed.

'Mother, I would never run away from home. You know that I love you.'

On the other side of the line I could hear my mother's sobs lessen slightly.

'Risa-chan, come back home soon. It's getting dark.'

'Okay. I'll be home soon.' I replied before ending the call.

'Risa-chan do you need to go now?' questioned Eiji with a sad expression on his face.

I nodded.

'It was nice meeting you!' I said, as I prepared to head out of the ice cream parlour.

'Wait!'

He handed me his cell phone and took mine from my hands.

'Exchange numbers' he said.

I punched in my number and handed him back his cell phone. He did the same.

'Lets keep in touch,' he said.

I nodded in agreement.

He then gave me a bone crushing bear hug.

'Eiji…I… air…' He let go of me. 'Speak properly, I can't hear you!' he said. I desperately gasped for air before shaking my head.  
'Don't worry Eiji, let's just go home.'  
We waved at each other before heading our separate ways.

I was one street away from my house before I felt something soft and wet in my hair. I looked up at the sky. Was it raining? A small white fluffy thing fell onto my nose. It was snowing! This year, it seemed like winter was coming early. There was still one week of autumn left.

I looked down onto the floor. The piles of maple leaves that had covered the floor for the past few months were now slowly being covered by snow. Soon the maple leaves would be forgotten and everyone would be marvelling over the snow instead.

The maple leaves would just be a faded, distant memory until next year. Once autumn came again, people would marvel at the beauty of the leaves as they fell and again forget about them once the snow came again.

It was sort of like the relationship between my father and I. During those years when he thought I was his daughter, he loved me and cherished me. When he found out that I wasn't his daughter, he seemed to forget all the memories we shared and turned his complete attention to the other two children he had secretly fathered.

To him I was like a maple leaf, so beautiful one moment, yet so easily forgotten and replaced. The only difference was that maple leaves would be remembered and appreciated the next year, but my father would never love and cherish me again. To him, I was probably just a faded memory by now. In his mind, I was probably just a fading maple.

**End Of Chapter Three**

It took me ages to write this chapter. I edited it many times because the mood of the story changed so much. First it's sad then it's happy then it's sad again. I'm still not completely satisfied with this chapter but I have no idea on how to improve on it. If anyone has any suggestions then please tell me.

To Sadari: Do you sort of understand what I mean by Fading Maples? If you still don't get it, I'll try and make it clearer.

Credits to Melody-chii as my unofficial beta reader.^^ She doesn't have any stories but was bored so I let her beta it.

Ja~!


	4. The school queens

**Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis or any of it's characters.**

Sorry about the previous chapter. There was no Fuji in it but I promise he'll be appearing in this one. I know the pace of my story has been very slow, but things will start heating up from this chapter onwards so enjoy!! Reviews are greatly appreciated. : D

**Important!**

**People have been slightly confused about where Risa is living and where she's moving to so here's my explanation:**

**Risa was living in the same area that Yuuta lived in, and she happened to meet Fuji after one of his visits to Yuuta. Because of Fuji's rocky relationship with Yuuta, Fuji doesn't visit him often; hence the six-month gap between Risa's first and second meeting with Fuji. **

**Now she has just moved to the area where Fuji is living so she's going to be seeing him lots more. Yay! ******

Sorry for making it so unclear. I apologise profusely. I hope all confusion was cleared up.

Note: The first and second meeting was when Fuji and Risa were both in second year. Now, after all the time skips, they're at the beginning of their third year of Junior High.

Italics indicate Risa's thoughts. This will apply to all chapters.

Well anyways, here's the fourth chapter! Enjoy!! : D

Chapter 4

_Where was I? This place was so dark, so cold… In the midst of the darkness, I could see a speck of light. It grew stronger and stronger until it was almost blinding, and then it disappeared. My mother's face replaced the light. She had a really apologetic look on her face._

'_Risa-chan, I'm sorry.' She whispered softly, before she turned away from me._

_Her shadow became more and more faded as she walked away. _

'_Mother, wait! Where are you going?' _

_I chased after her but for some reason, I couldn't move. My feet were plastered to the floor._

'_Mother!' _

_I yelled desperately for her to come back._

_She didn't pay any attention to me; she was too focused on something else. Before she faded completely, I caught a glimpse of my father's face in the distance. He gave me a big, toothy wolf-like grin before he too faded away with my mother. _

_My legs felt like jelly and I sank to the floor, shocked. My mother had left me for my father._

'Risa-chan, wake up!' 'Risa-chan!'

My eyes opened slowly. I turned my head to the side to see my mother looking down at me.

'Risa-chan, if you don't get up now you'll be late for school!'

My eyes snapped wide open.

'How long do I have?'

She looked at her watch.

'You have 30 minutes to get ready and go to school. Since your school is 10 minutes from here that leaves you with 20 minutes to get ready and eat.' She said.

_Yikes!_ I thought. I ran into the bathroom to get ready for the day. As I was tying up my hair, I recalled the events from my dreams; my mother was leaving me behind for my father. I shook my head vigorously.

_No way! She would never leave me for that cheating bastard!_ I thought, trying to reassure myself. I felt slightly calmer, but for some reason, there was a little part of me that actually believed that if she had to choose between me and my father, she would choose him. I sighed and brushed all my thoughts aside, at this rate I was never going to get to school.

Ten Minutes later

I finished preparing for the day in record time and I was now walking along the streets with a map in my hand.

_Okay, so I turn here and here and here…_

'Arrrrrggghhh!' I screamed in frustration. I was completely lost! It was going to take me a long time to get to school…

After walking past the same garbage bin for the fifth time, I gave up. I threw my map on the floor and stomped on it angrily, intent on destroying it.

_**Bring Bring**_

'Out of my way!' I heard someone yell. I whisked my head around just in time to see a person on a bike that was heading towards me at a furious pace. I froze on the spot. My brain was telling my legs to move but for some reason I was stuck to the floor. I closed my eyes and waited for the impact.

….

I opened my eyes, one by one. _Ehh_? He just disappeared. I looked around for the guy on the bicycle. He was on the sidewalk lying a few metres away from his bicycle. I walked to his side and kneeled beside him.

'Are you okay?' I asked.

He picked himself up.

'I'm perfectly fine' he said flexing his muscles.

'A man can take care of himself, pretty girls like you shouldn't have to to worry about me' he said winking.

'Ahhh! Momo-chan! Wait for me!' someone called from afar.

The voice was really familiar.

I raced to the direction of the voice.

'Eiji! Is that you?'

He blinked at me in surprise.

'Ahh! Risa-chan! You're wearing our school's uniform. Are you attending Seigaku?' he asked, bouncing up and down in excitement.

I nodded happily. I was glad to see someone I knew in this unfamiliar place.

He gave me a bone-crushing hug.

'That means I can see you everyday!' He said beaming in joy.

The boy he called 'Momo-chan' was staring at us in confusion. He looked at Eiji, then at me before looking back at Eiji again.

'You guys know each other?' He questioned.

Eiji nodded in reply.

'I almost hit a ball in her face the first time we met; so then I took her to the ice cream parlour as an apology. We had lots of fun didn't we?'

I smiled in response.

'Momo-chan' wasn't listening.

'Eiji-senpai, we're going to be late if we don't start heading to school now.' hollered Momo as he climbed onto his bike again.

'Can I follow you guys to school? I have no idea where to go.' I said.

'Of course!' said Eiji.

He grabbed my arm and we made a mad dash to the school. We ended up reaching the school a few minutes before the bell. Momo and Eiji didn't even break a sweat but I was literally soaked with sweat and panting in exhaustion. Those two had in-human stamina!

'Risa-chan, what class are you in? asked Eiji.

I looked at my timetable and tried to speak between puffs.

'Umm. Says here… Class 3-A.'

Eiji grabbed my arm and dragged me along again.

'Nya! Hurry! You're in the same class as me and our teacher for first period is scary! We really don't want to be late!' he yelled as we dashed through the hallways. My face was red from all the running and I felt as if my heart were about to explode.

Finally after what seemed like forever, we reached our classroom. We raced through the door just as the bell rang. Eiji was grinning widely and doing a victory dance while I held onto the doorframe to stop myself from collapsing.

'Ahem'

I turned around to see who I suspected was the teacher. I quickly moved out of the way so that he could enter the classroom. I had no idea what to do so I just clutched the doorframe again, letting my heartbeat slow down a little.

The teacher reached his desk and immediately the classroom quietened.

'Today we have a new student. Her name is Nanami Risa. Make sure that you all welcome her.'

He made a rough gesture at one of the desks up the back. I took that as a signal to sit down so I scurried over to my desk, trying to ignore the glares that some girls were giving me. _It was only my first day! What had I done wrong?_ I mentally screamed.

I lowered my head and pretended to be concentrating really hard on the teacher's lesson but the steady glares were extremely distracting. Once the lesson was over, I quickly grabbed all my stuff and tried to escape all the attention. I was almost out of the classroom until….

'Risa-chan! Where are you going? You don't know the layout of the school right? I'll take you to wherever you need to go, nya!' yelled Eiji, at the top of his lungs.

People both inside and outside of the classroom were staring at us oddly and most of them were not very nice stares… I paused awkwardly at the doorway.

'S-Sure.'

Eiji packed his things in lightning speed and dragged me down the school corridors.

While we were running, he was blabbering on and on and on.

'That teacher just then is Sado-sensei; he's the meanest history teacher in the school. Look at the loads of homework he set us! Oh well, I can always ask Fujiko to help me. Ah! Risa-chan, you don't know Fujiko do you? Fujiko is my best friend, Nya! I'll have to introduce you two to each other.'

I raised my eyebrows.

'Is Fujiko your girlfriend?' I asked.

Eiji stared at me as if I had grown another head.

'Fujiko? My girlfriend?' he asked, shocked.

He started laughing and rolling across the floor. People who were walking by stared at us strangely. Oh god… I was receiving way too much unwanted attention thanks to Eiji, who was still on the ground laughing like a maniac.

'Eiji, you're blocking the hallways.'

Eiji was still laughing as he lifted his head up to the person who had spoken.

'F-Fu-Fujiko' he said.

I looked up at 'Fujiko.'

'YOU!' I screamed, pointing my finger at him.

I knew it was wrong to point but I couldn't help it. It was my instantaneous reaction. My finger was quivering. It was that blue-eyed boy. Why was he called Fujiko? That was a girl's name. Unless… I had mistaken a girl for a guy. My eyes widened. I looked at the blue eyed boy/girl, no, blue-eyed thing with a frozen look on my face.

'You are a boy right?' I asked feeling really unsure of myself.

He chuckled, and the familiar sound echoed in my ears.

'Yes. I'm male, Fujiko is the nickname that Eiji calls me by. My real name is Fuji.'

Eiji had finally recovered from his laughing fit and was staring at both of us curiously.

'Risa-chan, you already know Fujiko?'

'Hai. I first met him a little over seven months ago.'

Eiji pouted.

'Aww. I really wanted to introduce you guys to each other.' he said sadly.

Fuji and I both laughed simultaneously.

'By the way, why weren't you in class Fujiko?' asked Eiji.

Fuji smiled serenely but then, he always smiles so maybe it doesn't count.

'I was doing a favour for Sado-sensei' he said.

Eiji shuddered and dropped the subject.

'Let's head to the cafeteria. We should get something to eat before class starts again.' Fuji said.

The three of us all walked to the cafeteria together. We lined up and bought our food.

Meanwhile Eiji was talking on and on.

'Not only did she use the rest of my toothpaste; she also knocked my toothbrush into the bin. What a useless sister!' he cried.

He looked at me with puppy eyes. I patted his head.

'Just buy better toothpaste' I said lamely.

_I mean, how was I supposed to reply? _

I grinned sheepishly at him and wondered what his reaction would be. His mouth curved upwards.

'Risa-chan, you're a lifesaver!' he yelled, glomping me.

My eyes almost bulged out of their sockets. He accepted such a lame comment…

I laughed aloud. Oh well. I guess Eiji was just this type of person. I gulped down the rest of my juice and quickly checked the time. I had five minutes to the bell.

'Hey, I'm going to make a trip to the bathroom.' I said as we threw away our trash.

'Okay! We'll wait for you here' said Eiji.

I went quickly and I finished what I needed to do and fixed my ponytail in front of the bathroom mirrors. After a minute or so, I saw three girls from the reflection of the mirror, leaning against the wall and watching me like hawks. Their eyes were following my every move and I shifted uncomfortably and tried to ignore their open staring. That proved to be rather hard, because I could see them staring at me from the reflection of the mirror.

The girls were all tall, slim, slender and very pretty. All of them had their uniforms worn in a stylish way, the one on the left and in the middle had exposed most of their legs and their shirts were skin tight, enhancing their skinny figures. The last girl, who was leaning against a wall a few metres behind, was more modest than the other two and had her uniform worn in a way that was stylish but not too showy.

I could tell immediately that they were not good news. I opted to get out of the bathroom but when I tired, they blocked my path. I looked up at them. The one in the middle stepped forward. She had the most commanding air. She was most likely the leader of the posse. She held out her hand.

'Hi I'm Airisu Himeiji. The one of the left is Riijiya Ayako and that's Aisaharu Miyuki.' She said, pointing at each person as she spoke.

I reluctantly shook her hand and looked the three girls over. Riijiya looked extremely familiar. I was sure that I had seen her in my history class just this morning with Sado-sensei.

Airisu and Riijiya were both third years but the last girl who was standing behind them looked younger. She was probably a first year. Airisu and her sidekick Riijiya steeped forward.

'I know you're new to the school, so we're letting you off easy this time. Eiji-kun, Fuji-kun and the rest of the tennis regulars are all off limits.' Said Airisu.

I lifted my eyebrows in confusion. _What were tennis regulars?_

Airisu lifted a perfectly manicured nail to my face and traced my cheek in a rather strange way as though testing the suppleness and smoothness.

'You have a cute face, but I assure you that the tennis regulars are not interested in someone as plain as you. Your hair has no style, your uniform has no style and your figure is average at best.' She said poking me in the chest.

'Back off from the regulars and we guarantee you that nothing unfortunate will happen to you' said Riijiya who was checking her nails beside Airisu.

The two of them walked off together and Miyuki looked at me for a second before following them. I stared after them, confused. _What regulars?_ I shook my head. _Strange girls._

I was almost out of the bathroom until I felt someone place their hand on my shoulder. I jumped up in surprise.

A girl whom I guessed was a third year, smiled at me.

'Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you.' She said

I shook my head

'It's okay' I replied.

'You know those girls just then, they're the three queens of this school. All of them are extremely rich. Airisu is the heir to a wealthy clothing design company, Riijiya is the daughter of a man who owns a large hotel chain and Miyuki's father runs a successful jewellery company. They hold great influence over most of the students in this school due to their wealth. You should really watch out for them. They can be really nasty once they've set their eyes on you.' She said.

I stared at the girl.

'Thank you for the advice, but what are regulars?' I questioned.

She laughed.

'Regulars are members of the tennis team who have amazing skills. They are highly admired by girls both in and outside of this school. You know, the two guys you were sitting with at lunch, they are 'regulars' of the tennis club.' She said.

I gaped at her.

_I was sitting with some of the most popular guys in school! No wonder I was receiving so many glares from girls!_

I bowed to the girl.

'Thank you so much!'

She smiled and turned to leave but I called after her.

'I never caught your name' I said.

'I'm Suzuki Rin. I'm in the same homeroom class as you.' She said.

She gave me one last smile before she walked off and I was left staring at her retreating back.

_Bring Bring_

The bell for class brought me back to reality_. Oh no! I had left Eiji and Fuji waiting for 5 minutes!_ I sprinted out of the bathroom and saw both Fuji and Eiji checking their watches. I grabbed their arms, catching them by surprise and dragged them to our next class.

'Risa-san, our classroom is that way' said Fuji, pointing in the opposite direction. I bit my lip and tried to stop a red flush of embarrassment from creeping up my cheeks. We turned around and Eiji and Fuji ended up being the ones who dragged me to our classroom.

When we entered the classroom, there were only three seats left. Two of them were side by side and the last one was in front Rin. I waved at her sat down beside her, leaving Eiji and Fuji with the other two seats.

Our teacher didn't show up at all during our whole lesson so I spent all my time talking to Rin. She was extremely friendly and we just seemed to click. Eiji and Fuji stood at our tables and joined in our conversations. Fuji actually wasn't as bad as I originally thought he was. In fact, he had a great sense of humour and he shared all the dirty little secrets he had found out about the teachers. He had one very good collection of blackmail material which probably included mine from before...

When the bell rang, signalling the end of class, Eiji and Fuji both walked us to the cafeteria. From the corner of my eye I could see Airisu and Riijiya give me warning glares. Miyuki was standing just slightly behind them looking indifferent. I looked at them for a second and just stuck out my tongue. I knew that it was probably a bad idea to provoke the school queens like that but I couldn't help it.

From in front I could hear Fuji chuckling.

'Made enemies on your first day?'

I huffed.

'It's not my fault.' I said.

He laughed and dropped the subject.

We collected our food from the cafeteria and then Fuji and Eiji bid us goodbye. They both had to go to a tennis meeting, but they promised that they'd meet us at our table a few minutes before the lunch break ended.

Sure enough, they kept to their promise and we left for school together as soon as the bell rang. We managed to find four seats up the back so we ended up sitting together. As I was getting comfortable, I saw Riijiya enter the room. She walked past my desk and slipped a note into my pencilcase.

I reached out for it and slowly unfolded it.

I felt a cold sweat run down my back.

_Oh Crap. I really shouldn't have insulted the school queens._

_**Time for war.**_

The message was short and simple, but it conveyed a lot of meaning. I knew then that I was now their Number 1, and that they'd do anything to make my life a living hell.

**To be continued….**

How was it? I know that the pace was a bit fast and the ending is slightly abrupt but it seemed like a good place to end it. Reviews are highly appreciated! Stay tuned for the next chapter!! :D

Credits to melody-chii for beta-ing again.

Bye~!


	5. Unexpected twist

I owe a really big thanks to all my reviewers. I just love reading all your comments. Please continue to support my story! : D

**Disclaimer: I do not own Prince Of Tennis or any of its characters. The only characters I own are my Ocs, Rin and Risa.**

**Re cap:**

When the lunch break ended Fuji, Eiji, Rin and I left for classes again. We managed to find four seats up the back so we ended up sitting together. As I was getting comfortable, I saw Riijiya enter the room. She walked past my desk and slipped a note into my pencil case.

I reached out for it and slowly unfolded it. I felt a cold sweat run down my back.

_Oh Crap. I really shouldn't have insulted the school queens._

Time for war.

The message was short and simple, but it conveyed a lot of meaning. I knew then that I was now their Number 1 enemy, and that they'd do anything to make my life a living hell.

Chapter 5

Rin obviously noticed how pale I had become, because she lifted her hand to my forehead to feel for my temperature.

'Risa-chan, are you okay? You're really pale, but you're burning up. Should I take you to see the school nurse?' she asked.

I shook my head.

'I'm perfectly fine' I replied.

I stood up shakily and threw the piece of paper in the bin. There was no doubt that the little message written on that note was going to haunt me tonight.

As I headed back to my seat, I saw Riijiya smirk with victory, she too had probably noticed how shaken up I was, thanks to her little note. I saw her pull out her mobile phone. She was probably going to report back to Airisu, the leader of their little posse.

I lowered my head in shame for allowing myself to be affected so strongly by that one single line in Riijiya's message. After all, it could've been an empty threat, but knowing the power that the three girls held, I couldn't help but feel worried.

Luckily for me, the teacher entered the classroom and I wasn't given any more time to dwell on the note. In fact, I totally forgot about it because I was enjoying myself too much. The subject we were doing was math, which was extremely boring and repetitive but the little messages that Rin, Eiji and Fuji passed around were extremely entertaining.

Unfortunately, I was not very good at hiding my emotions so I ended up bursting out laughing in the middle of class. All pairs of eyes were on me.

'Risa-san, 2 extra exercises for homework!' barked the teacher.

I almost ripped out my hair then and there.

_Arggggghhh! No way!_

Rin and Eiji gave me looks of pity but Fuji just chuckled. I sent him a glare. I had to spend an extra half hour doing my homework, and he was laughing! I sighed in frustration and imagined myself strangling the teacher.

The whole class just pretty much went on like that and when the bell rang, signalling the end of class, I jumped up and pumped my fist in the air. Eiji was bouncing up in joy and Rin was staring at us like we were crazy. I grinned at her.

'What's our next class?' I asked.

'Club activities.' Answered Fuji.

I raised an eyebrow.

'Club activities?'

'Well you see, everyone has to join a club when they enter school. You probably haven't chosen one yet since its your first day.' Replied Rin.

'Oh, so what clubs are you guys in?' I asked.

'Tennis' said both Fuji and Eiji.

I looked at Rin

'Tennis'

Fuji and Eiji looked at her in surprise.

'Saa, I didn't know you played tennis, Rin.' Said Fuji, with his everlasting smile plastered to his face.

'Well I do and I'm pretty darn good at it but our school's girl's tennis team is pretty bad; no one ever does any training. They just gawk over the opposite gender, its such a waste of time!' she ranted.

'Risa what club are you joining?' Eiji asked, quickly changing the topic.

'Photography club' I said immediately.

A long, awkward silence followed.

'Risa-chan, there's no photography club' laughed Eiji, scratching the back of his head nervously.

My eyes dimmed.

'Oh is that so?' I asked to no one in particular.

'Well I might as well join the tennis team then.'

Rin and Eiji gawked at me and Fuji was just the same as ever.

'You can play tennis?' Eiji and Rin asked in unison.

I shook my head.

'Nope, never played tennis, but since there's no photography club, I'll just join the tennis team because Rin's in it. I can also keep her company since no one ever does any tennis training according to her.' I answered.

Shortly after, I followed Rin to the courts. Eiji and Fuji had already left for their tennis training; apparently they had a really strict captain who would give them laps if they were late.

When we had arrived to the courts, Rin looked around trying to find the captain.

'All you have to do is tell the captain that you are interested in joining. Then all you have to do is write your name and homeroom class on a sheet of paper and you're in! The captain can't refuse you a spot in the tennis club.' she said.

I smiled in relief.

It seemed like there was no need for me to do a try out of any sort.

'Risa, over here!' Rin grabbed my arm and dragged me along.

It seemed like she had managed to spot the captain.

She eased me gently through the crowd of girls but somebody roughly bumped into me. I stumbled a little, but managed to regain my footing. I looked up and met the burning gaze of Airisu. Her two usual companions, Riijiya and Miyuki were also beside her.

I was about to leave, but someone gripped my arm tightly. I turned around, expecting to see Airisu's taunting gaze, but instead I saw Rin staring back at me.

'Where do you think you're going, chubby face? She asked.

Shock rushed through my head like a wave and sadness tingled in my spine.

'Rin…'

'Yo, I brought the little twerp that you wanted.' Rin said, while flashing a toothy grin at Airisu.

Riijiya gave Rin a high five and Airisu gave her a hug. As I watched their exchanges, I felt a mix of emotions rush through me, but mostly I felt hurt and betrayed. Airisu leered at me.

'Rin has already informed me of your relationship with the two regulars Kikumaru Eiji and Fuji Syusuke. It seems that they're only accompanying you because you're unfamiliar to the school. Responsibility is the only reason why they're hanging out with you.' Said Airisu.

I shook my head.

_No, what she was saying was wrong. They were accompanying me because they thought of me as a friend. They don't think of me as a responsibility. _I thought, trying to reassure myself. Airisu's words left me feeling rather shaken and I started questioning my place in Eiji and Fuji's heart. Most of all, I was questioning my place in Rin's heart.

My hands were gripped tightly into fists and my head faced the floor. I could feel the teardrops drip from my eyes, leaving a wet trail behind. My hair was in my face, blocking their view of my expressions, something that I was grateful for. I couldn't bear to let them see me in this state, especially Airisu.

I felt so lonely and confused. My father had abandoned me, Rin was in the process of doing so, and Fuji and Eiji were probably my friends for all the wrong reasons. Fuji was most likely being friends with me for his own amusement and Eiji was probably just feeling indebted to me because of the tennis ball incident.

_Did I really ever have a place in anyone's heart?_

I could barely hear Airisu's voice.

'I knew the regulars wouldn't go for someone like you. You've got no curves and your face is like a round tomato. These days, men like girls who have thin faces; defined jaw lines and curves' continued Airisu.

_Was I really that hard to like? I was just a parasite wasn't I? To my mother I was a burden, to my father I was useless, to my friends, I was just a responsibility and to everyone else I was just an eyesore. _

My vision blurred and I let a soft sob escape. I could almost see the three, no four, school queens smirking. A perfectly manicured nail lifted my chin up. I came face to face with Riijiya who was smiling with a sense of accomplishment. Airisu had a similar look on her face and Miyuki was impassive. Rin had a guilty expression on her face but it was so brief that I wondered whether I had imagined it.

'She's so boring. A few mean words and she's already crying. What a baby.'

Rin turned to leave.

Riijiya turned to look at Rin before smiling.

'Airisu, do you think it's time for a new target?' Riijiya asked.

Airisu smirked.

'Let's go girls.'

Airisu, Riijiya and Rin walked in a little trio and Miyuki trailed a few paces behind them. A crowd had been formed, and all the girls were staring either at the school queens retreating backs or myself. I felt bitterness overwhelm my heart, so I sprinted to the toilets where no one would see me.

I lay like a crumpled heap in the corner of the bathrooms, right next to the basins. I stayed like that for hours, long after the end of school. After drowning myself in my sorrows, I recovered slightly and went to wash my face at the basins. At the edge of one of them, there was a handkerchief with a note on it.

_I'm sorry_

Instinctively, I turned to the bathroom entrance to see if anyone was there. A flash of purple caught my attention, but when I had reached the entrance, the person was long gone. Even so, I had an idea on who it was. I gripped the handkerchief tightly in my hands and smiled a small, painful smile.

'Thank you….Miyuki' I whispered.

She felt a ghost of a smile form on her lips. She slowly got up from her hiding place in the bushes and headed towards the school exit. Before she left she murmured something so quietly, that even she herself could not hear.

'You're welcome'

**Really short chapter this time! Sorry! There's been a lot of pressure with work and stuff so I haven't really got time to write. This chapter was a bit rushed.**

**Tell me if I have made any mistakes and I'll make sure that I correct them. Reviews are highly appreciated. **

**Until next time!** 


	6. Change of Friendship

I'm really sorry about the previous chapter. It was super, super short, so to make up for it, I'm going to try make this chapter the longest one yet. Thank you to all my reviewers, especially to those who have been doing it consistently. Anonymous reviews are also welcomed!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Prince Of Tennis or any of its characters. The only characters I own are my Ocs, Rin, Risa and the three school queens.**

**Recap:**

Instinctively, I turned to the bathroom entrance to see if anyone was there. A flash of purple caught my attention, but when I had reached the entrance, the person was long gone. Even so, I had an idea on who it was. I gripped the handkerchief tightly in my hands and smiled a small, painful smile.

'Thank you….Miyuki' I whispered, as I exited the school.

She felt a ghost of a smile form on her lips. She slowly got up from her hiding place in the bushes and headed towards the school exit. Before she left she murmured something so quietly, that even she herself could not hear.

'You're welcome'

**Chapter 6**

That day, I walked home with a heavy heart. The feeling of rejection and hurt was still freshly engraved into my chest. Slowly and dejectedly, I reached for the door handle.

'Tadaima'

My mother came out of the kitchen and smiled.

'Okaeri, Risa-chan. How was school?' She asked, looking up from the bowl of eggs she was whipping. By then, I was already long gone.

'Risa-chan…'

She frowned as she glanced up the stairs. She then shook her head and returned to the kitchen to resume cooking.

**The next Day**

I woke up earlier than usual and headed downstairs to the kitchen. My mother had already left for work but on the table there was a bento wrapped neatly with a note on top. I lifted the note and gently unfolded it.

_Risa-chan, Yesterday you looked so sad, I don't know whether it was because of school or something else, but please remember that you can confide in me. Cheer up Risa-chan! Make sure you go to school with a smile. ___

_Mum_

I re-folded the note and placed it back on the table. I then unwrapped the bento and had a look at its contents. I could tell that mother had spent a long time making it. She was an average cook at best, and to make something as lavish as this, she would've had to stay up almost all night.

I re-wrapped the bento and hugged it to my chest. I left the house with a smile on my face. My heart was still aching from the betrayal from Rin yesterday, but I knew that no matter what happened, I could still rely on my mother, so my heart felt much lighter than yesterday. I grabbed my backpack and a piece of toast before leaving for school.

When I arrived at school, there were a two freshmen gossiping at the entrance.

'Did you hear? Miyuki-chan from class 1-A got dropped from the school queens'

'Well, it was expected, after all she is only a freshman.'

My ears perked up. I walked over to the two freshmen.

'What is all this about Miyuki being dropped from the school queens?' I asked.

The freshmen stared at me.

'Senpai, don't you know? The three queens are the 3 most popular girls in the school. They change every month, depending on their votes. They are smart, talented, beautiful and rich.' Said freshman number 1.

'No, the school queens don't necessarily have to be rich, but having money does help. If they're wealthy, they hold influence over people's jobs and if you don't vote for them, the next day, one of your parents might be jobless' said the second freshman shuddering.

I raised my eyebrows. Some of the rich kids these days.

'So who replaced Miyuki this month?" I asked, curious.

'Rin-senpai.' The freshmen answered in unison.

I froze. After a few minutes, I came to my senses only to find that the freshmen had left.

'Such a strange senpai' one of them muttered.

The other nodded in agreement.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

As I strolled around the school buildings, I checked my watch. I was an hour early, but I had nothing to do so I decided to head to class. On my way there, I saw Miyuki exit from the change rooms.

A smile appeared on my face as I recalled yesterday's events.

'Ohayo Miyuki-chan'

The freshman bowed.

'Ohayo Nanami-senpai'

'Make sure you call me Risa; there's no need to be so formal. Senpai's orders okay?' I said, grinning.

She nodded shyly.

'Miyuki-chan, how are you feeling?' I asked.

'I'm fine.'

A very long silence followed.

'I think I'll head to class now' I said, putting an end to the long, awkward silence.

'Senpai!'

I turned to face her.

'We have tennis practice every morning and afternoon. Don't forget to come, and also, be careful.'

With that, she walked off.

I grimaced.

_The new school queens probably have something lovely planned for me. _I thought, my inner voice dripping with sarcasm.

With one last look at Miyuki's retreating back, I finally headed to class.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Throughout the school day, Rin avoided me. In class she sat with Riijiya and every time we made eye contact, she'd turn away immediately.

'Rin-chan not sitting with us today?' asked Eiji during break time.

My eyes dimmed.

'No, Not today Eiji.'

'What about next time?'

I sighed. 'Maybe not next time either.' I said.

Fuji seemed to have noticed my discomfort.

'Eiji, let it rest, Risa-san doesn't look very well today.' He said.

After hearing this from Fuji, Eiji quietened.

'Nya! Risa-chan, you're sick?' he asked, feeling my forehead in concern.

'Eiji, what did I say?' asked Fuji.

Eiji looked at Fuji.

'Ah! Sorry!' he said.

I smiled thankfully at Fuji. For once he was being nice, and it was definitely a moment to treasure.

After the break, we were given a pairs assignment and since there was an odd number in the class, I was left alone. Eiji had offered to switch places with me so that I'd have a partner, but that would've meant that he would've been alone. Knowing Eiji, he was going to struggle doing the assignment by himself so I declined.

At the end of that period, I headed to the lockers with both Fuji and Eiji. On the way, another third year named Oishi called Eiji to train on a new formation. I had no idea what they were talking about. Something about Australian, communication and technique. When I asked Fuji about it, he just laughed and told me not to worry.

When we reached the lockers, I put away my books away and when I finished, I saw Fuji watching me contemplatively.

'What is it? Is there something on my face?' I questioned. His smile was coy as he spoke.

'Risa-san, I just noticed that when you look downwards, you have a double chin.'

My face steamed up and I could feel sparks fly from my body.

'Fuji…'

He chuckled and held his hands in front of himself in defence.

'I was kidding! I didn't know that your were so self conscious.'

I let my face cool down a bit before replying.

'Of course I'm self conscious! I am a girl after all! I have to right to care about my appearance. You should have known that since our first meeting. If I wasn't self conscious, I would've let you take pictures of me until you got nightmares.' I answered hotly.

'Ah, Risa-senpai'

I turned around to see Miyuki with some books in her arms.

'Miyuki-chan! Good to see you. Need any help with the books? I asked.

She smiled shyly so I took that as a yes. I grabbed half the books from her arms and helped her put them in her locker.

'Miyuki-chan, please sit with me during lunch. I really don't think I could survive eating alone with that demon' I whispered, turning around to point at Fuji.

My heart skipped a beat when I realised he wasn't there anymore.

'When you said demon, did you mean me?'

I screamed as I turned around to see Fuji smiling in amusement.

'What demon? You must have been daydreaming, I said nothing about a demon, right Miyuki?'

Miyuki tilted her head in confusion.

'Senpai, just then, weren't you asking me to save you from the demon, a.k.a Fuji-senpai?'

My eyes almost popped out of their sockets. I laughed nervously as Fuji took a step towards me. He then took another, another and another. By now I was backed against a locker. I closed my eyes in fright.

'Boo!'

My eyes snapped open and I screamed in Fuji's face. He doubled over with laughter and Miyuki winced slightly.

'Senpai.. You're going to make me deaf, let's just go eat.' She said

I nodded vigorously.

'Fuji, stop playing around, Miyuki is going to starve.'

'But senpai, I never said I was going to starve.' Said Miyuki, cocking her head to one side.

I slammed the palm of my hand into my forehead.

'Doesn't matter Miyuki-chan, lets just eat.'

I linked arms with her and headed off to the cafeteria, leaving Fuji staring after us. I turned around.

'Fuji! Are you coming or not?' I called.

The everlasting smile on his face grew wider, just a tiny bit.

_Seems like she's fine after all, she's lost a friend, but at the same time, she's gained one. _He thought._ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

After school that day, Eiji Fuji and I parted ways to go to our respective training sessions. I met up with Miyuki in the change rooms and she lent me a spare tennis outfit and racquet that she kept in her locker. After we changed, we headed to the courts together.

'Senpai, want me to help you do some stretches?' asked Miyuki.

I nodded.

I sat on the floor with my legs straight out in front and she gently pushed my back down so that my hands reached my feet.

'Well, well, well, what do we have here?'

'A tomato faced third year and a puny, unwanted freshman' someone else answered

I looked up to see Airisu and Riijiya staring down at me with superior looks on their faces.

The two of them giggled and high fived each other.

I stood up and grabbed Miyuki's wrist.

'Let's go' I said.

Airisu and Riijiya laughed nastily.

'Do you really think that Miyuki would ever want to be friends with you? She might not be one of the queens anymore, but she still has her pride.' Said Airisu.

'Right Miyuki?' asked Riijiya.

Miyuki looked at the ground timidly when I tried to meet her eyes.

The moments of Rin's betrayal replayed in my head.

_Oh no. Not again._

My heart felt like it was slowly being pierced as I watched Miyuki walk towards the three queens. When she was standing right in front of Airisu, she jabbed her on the forehead. Everyone was stunned into silence. The shy, timid Miyuki, jabbing someone in the head? It was unheard of.

'I'm tired of you and your taunting. People who pick on others are useless and have no self- confidence. They're people who need to put down others in order to make themselves feel good. You're one of those people. An annoying, petty person who goes around and bullying others.'

She didn't yell it or really raise her voice for that matter, but the impact that it gave was just as strong. The usually soft-spoken Miyuki had spoken each and every word so confidently that everyone was awed into silence.

Airisu looked gob smacked. Her mouth was opening and closing, but nothing came out. Riijiya tried to find the words to back up the unofficial leader of the queens, but she too seemed lost for words.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

'What are all you girls gawking at. Get your puny asses over here this instant!'

Everyone turned to the tennis court gates. There stood a middle-aged woman with outrageous pink sweatpants. Whispers filled the courts.

'_Isn't that Ryuuzaki-sensei?'_

'_She's the coach for the male tennis team, why is she here?'_

'Quiet!'

The courts became silent immediately. Everyone froze in their places, no one dared to speak or move.

'Why is everyone just standing there! Hurry up; line up your year groups. Freshmen up the front, third years up the back!' she barked.

Everyone was in their positions within a minute. No one dared to speak and everyone listened attentively for instructions.

'As you know, the Seigaku girls tennis team has never been sent to the district tournaments before. The school this year, has decided to enter a female tennis team into the competition. Therefore we will have ranking matches starting next week. Everyone work hard because as a reward, the selected regulars will be allowed to train with the boys.'

Hysterical squealing and laughter filled the courts.

'BUT!'

All noise died down.

'There will only be two singles matches and one doubles match in the tournament, which means only five regulars will be chosen.'

Murmuring filled the courts.

_Ehh? Five? But two singles matches and one doubles match only adds up to four players. Why five?_

'Silence!' roared Ryuuzaki-sensei.

'There will be five regulars, the fifth one being a back up. The fifth regular will fill in if one of the others gets injured or if one of the regulars are too exhausted from a previous match to play.'

'Practice hard. The male regulars will assist me in choosing the female regulars. You are dismissed.'

Ryuuzaki-sensei walked out of the courts. The second her feet left the tennis courts excitement buzzed. Some girls fainted, others were squealing.

Airisu turned to face me.

'For now you're off the hook. You better watch your back.'

She and Riijiya strutted out of the courts side by side while Rin lingered behind.

She turned to face Miyuki.

'You think that by standing up to the three queens, you'll gain popularity and respect among the school students. Well you're wrong. I'll make sure that you don't get a single vote during this months popularity poll.' Said Rin.

I glared at Rin.

'Even though I was friends with you for less than I day, I could tell that the kindness you showed towards me was real. I hope that we get that beautiful Rin back.'

I took Miyuki's hand.

'Let's go.'

'Friends are worthless.'

I turned around to see Rin with a sullen expression on her face.

'Friends are for betraying and being betrayed.'

I saw her eyes moisten slightly but she turned around and stormed off leaving me speechless. I stared at her retreating back for a long time.

'Senpai, we should go now.' Said Miyuki

'It's getting late.'

I nodded in agreement. As I walked home, I contemplated what Rin had said. She didn't seem like a bad person, just someone who was lost and confused. Or maybe, she didn't have any good memories of friends. That was the most likely situation.

_I'll make sure she's got some good memories then._

I promised myself that I would help her find her way and let her truly appreciate the meaning of friendship.

**Meanwhile~**

Ryuuzaki-sensei was in her office with Tezuka and Oishi.

The silence was a very tense and uncomfortable one.

'Sensei! Are you really going to let the female regulars train with us? This might affect the play of some of our regulars. You know how distracting they can be!' said Oishi in concern.

'Sensei, this year we are aiming for the nationals and if these girls will affect our play, I'll have to object to your decision.'

The tennis coach sighed.

'I understand your concerns but worry not, I didn't intend to let the girls train with you guys. It was just something to encourage them to train harder. But one of your practices will have to be sacrificed in order to assess the girls.' Said Ryuuzaki.

Tezuka stiffened slightly at the mention of a lost training session but bowed nevertheless.

'Very well.' He answered.

**End of chapter 6**

There we go! All finished. I haven't uploaded in over a week and for that, I apologise. I know that at the moment nothing much is happening, but I need to establish all the relationships, friendships and personalities of my OCS before I can get on with it. Please review on the way out.

Until next time!


	7. New Thrill

Disclaimer: I do not own Prince Of Tennis or any characters in Prince Of Tennis

Thank you to everyone who has reviewed my story. I'm glad to know that there are people who enjoy reading what I write, and I hope that you'll continue to support my story. Well here's the seventh chapter!

Chapter 7

Two days had passed since Ryuuzaki-sensei had made the announcement about the ranking tournaments, which meant that there was only five days left to prepare. Honestly when I first heard about the ranking matches, I wasn't very motivated to participate at all, the only reason I had even joined the tennis club was because of Rin.

After she had turned her back on me, I had no reason to remain in the tennis club, but afterwards, I befriended Miyuki, and she became my new reason for remaining in the tennis club. She showed me the exhilaration and the enjoyment that I could get from playing tennis, and it immediately became one of my favourite pastimes.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

'Senpai! I'm serving now!'

I nodded. The current score was 4-1, with Miyuki in the lead. Though she was short and looked fragile, she was fast and had amazing stamina. She had a slim build which was best suited for long distance runners and her arms and legs had a lot of lean muscle, which made her surprisingly strong.

I was no match for her. After all, I was just a beginner at tennis and I was more of a short distance runner rather than a long distance runner, which meant that I was fast, but got tired easily.

Miyuki served the ball over the net and I hit it with all the force I could muster. I blinked in surprise for a few moments. _Where did the ball go? _Miyuki looked very embarrassed as she started to speak.

'S-senpai, behind you.'

I turned around to see the tennis ball on the ground. I bit my lip in embarrassment.

_I missed the ball completely! _

I threw the tennis ball back to Miyuki.

'Okay! 15-0. Your serve Miyuki!'

The previous flush of embarrassment left her face and a determined expression took over. Whenever Miyuki played tennis, she was confident and determined, but when she was off court, she was shy, quiet and rather unsure of herself. It was good to see that she had something that she felt confident in doing.

'Senpai! The ball!'

I snapped out of my thoughts and saw the ball flying towards my face. I moved my head out of the path of the ball and hit it back. Miyuki was already in position. We continued rallying for a while like that, Miyuki was fast and she got most of the balls that I hit, even though I tried to hit it to the harder places.

My aim wasn't very good, so even though I pinpointed positions that I wanted to hit the ball to, I didn't have the accuracy to do it.

'Senpai, it's 5-1, your serve.'

I smiled. Although I was being beaten by a first year, I couldn't help but feel happy. Tennis provided me with a thrill that I had never felt in my life and I found out that it was also a good way to get my mind off things.

'Senpai! How long are you going to take to serve?'

A determined smile spread across my face. I knew that I was probably going to lose, but I wasn't going down without a fight. I threw the ball in the air and hit it with all my remaining strength.

Miyuki was stunned and her legs were rooted to the spot. But then her eyes brightened.

'Senpai! That was really good. Do that again!'

I was sweating and panting heavily but I felt energized after hitting an ace. I served again, this time Miyuki returned it, just barely. I ran to the ball and smashed it to the opposite side of the court to where Miyuki was standing.

She knew that her chances of returning it were slim, but she tried anyway. Miyuki dived for the ball and she managed to get her racquet under the ball before it touched the ground. The ball scraped across the net and went over to my side. Luckily, I had anticipated the ball and I hit it back to gain my second point.

'Good shot! 30-0'

I raised my eyebrows. That was definitely not Miyuki's voice. The umpire's chair that was previously empty, was now occupied by Eiji. Next to him stood Fuji and there was one other person whom I recognised as Oishi. He was the one who asked Eiji to train with him during one lunchtime.

'When did you guys get here?' I asked.

'Not too long ago, but long enough to see you lose 3 games to Miyuki-chan.' Said Fuji.

I huffed. Fuji was just as blunt and mean as ever.

'Miyuki! I'm serving now!'

Miyuki's attention turned back to me, but I could tell that she was slightly uncomfortable with our new audience. Actually I was quite nervous too, having three people watching, but I didn't let it show.

I tossed the ball in the air. _I had to win my service game! Otherwise, the game would be over. _Feeling energised by my new resolve, I served. The wall whizzed through the air, before landing right in the corner of opposite court. Miyuki managed to hit it with the frame of her racquet, but it didn't go over the net.

'40-0'

_Just one more point! _I served once more. Miyuki returned it, and a tough rally began. Neither of us wanted to give in, but of course someone had to win the point. Miyuki pinpointed a shot to the opposite side of the court and I had to run all the way over there to hit it back. I managed to get there in the nick of time, and I lobbed the ball over the net. Seeing her chance, Miyuki jumped and prepared to smash it until….

'Holy Mother of Cows!'

Miyuki's attention turned to the person who had screamed that unusual phrase. She lost her balance and fell to floor and the tennis ball dropped onto her head.

'Miyuki-chan! Are you okay?' I asked.

'I'm okay, there's no need to worry about me.' she said getting up. She stood on her feet for a few seconds before falling to the ground again. I ran over to her side and inspected her leg. There was a nasty scrape on her knee and her ankle was swollen. The blood from her knee was sliding down her leg and staining her white socks.

Oishi being the worrywart he is, ran off the pharmacist a few streets away to buy disinfectant and band-aids. Miyuki leaned on my shoulder for support as we walked out of the courts. Fuji and Eiji on the other hand, stayed behind to gather up our tennis equipment and balls.

I put Miyuki on the floor right outside the tennis courts and I leaned on the metal tennis court barriers. Despite her painful looking injury, she didn't show any signs of pain, which showed how strong she was despite her fragile appearance. She moved her leg a little and bent her knee to ease the stiffness despite my protests. The flow of blood increased but she made no move to wipe it away.

'Umm.. Are you okay?'

Miyuki looked up at the girl who had just spoken.

'O-Of Course! There's no need to worry about me.'

The girl who had spoken looked upset. She bowed deeply.

'I'm so sorry for causing your injury. I shouldn't have been so thoughtless during a tennis match.'

Miyuki looked confused.

'This injury was my fault. You didn't do anything to me.'

'No, no, no!' disagreed the other girl.

'I was the one who screamed 'Holy mother of Cows' and distracted you.'

'It was my fault for getting distracted.' Miyuki said softly.

'No!' insisted the other girl.

They were still arguing like that when Fuji and Eiji returned. Fuji listened their argument with interest, occasionally chuckling at the silly things that they said.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

'What year are you in?' asked the girl

'I'm a first year' answered Miyuki.

'Ha! Well that makes me your senpai, so I say it's my fault and that's final!'

'But!'

'No buts! It's my fault. Mai-senpai orders you to agree.'

Miyuki looked down in defeat.

'Miyuki-chan!'

Everyone turned their heads to see Oishi running across the road with a tube of disinfecting cream and a box of bandaids.

'Ah! Oishi-senpai!' said the girl.

'Mai-chan?' Oishi said in surprise.

Everyone looked interested in this new development.

Eiji had a cheeky grin on his face as he nudged Oishi.

'How do you know Mai-chan?'

Oishi flushed a little at what Eiji was suggesting. Oishi quickly explained their relationship to avoid misunderstanding.

'Mai-chan is my kouhai in the student council. Currently we're partners in organising the freshman timetables for next term.'

Eiji's cheeky grin disappeared fraction by fraction with every word that Oishi said. He leaned his head on my shoulder and pouted.

'Aww. I wanted to have some fun teasing Oishi.'

I laughed at how cute Eiji looked.

'Oh no! I forgot all about Miyuki-chan's injury!'

Oishi reverted to his worrywart self and began cleaning Miyuki's wound while scolding himself for leaving her waiting for so long. Miyuki tried to comfort Oishi, but he didn't seem to hear her. He was too focused on scolding himself and fixing her wound.

Oishi was very fast and thorough in cleaning wounds so Miyuki's wound was cleaned within minutes. He also managed to stop the bleeding, but her socks still had the bloodstains.

'Risa-senpai, I'm going home to change my socks, how about I meet you back here in half an hour.' Said Miyuki.

I nodded.

'Come back quickly!'

'Nya! Matte, Miyuki-chan. Fuji's going to treat us to lunch so meet us at the burger joint in half an hour. It's over there!' He said, pointing across the road.

'I'm treating everyone to lunch?' asked Fuji with a honeyed voice that was dripping venom.

Eiji shuddered and felt his blood run cold after hearing his friend's tone of voice change dramatically. That could only mean bad news. Eiji laughed nervously.

'I-I meant Oishi. Oishi, you'll treat us all to lunch right?' asked Eiji with a pleading look on his face.

Oishi didn't have the heart to refuse him so he agreed.

'Miyuki-chan, burger joint in half an hour!' yelled Eiji.

She nodded her head in reply before leaving.

At the burger joint

We were given the largest table available because there were so many people; Eiji, Fuji, Oishi, Risa, Mai and Miyuki who had yet to return.

'Mai-chan, you're Oishi's kouhai in the student council right?'

Mai nodded.

'Does that mean that you attend Seigaku?' asked Eiji.

She nodded once again.

Eiji's eyes brightened and he glomped her.

'Mai-chan, are you in second year?' I asked.

'Yup!'

'Ah! Senpai-tachi. You guys came here to eat too?'

Everyone turned to see a spiky haired boy standing next to a shorter boy with a cap.

'_Out of my way!' I heard someone yell. I whisked my head around just in time to see a person on a bike that was heading towards me at a furious pace. I froze on the spot. My brain was telling my legs to move but for some reason I was stuck to the floor. I closed my eyes and waited for the impact._

…

'Ah! It's you! You're Momoshiro-kun aren't you?' I asked recalling the events on my first day at Seigaku.

_I opened my eyes, one by one. Ehh? He just disappeared. I looked around for the guy on the bicycle. He was on the sidewalk laying a few metres away from his bicycle. I walked to his side and kneeled beside him._

'_Are you okay?' I asked._

_He picked himself up._

'_I'm perfectly fine' he said flexing his muscles._

'_A man can take care of himself, pretty girls like you shouldn't have to to worry about me' he said winking._

His eyes also shone with recognition.

You're Eij-Senpai's friend! The one I almost knocked down with my bicycle.' He said.

I scooted over on the bench and made enough room for him and his friend to sit down. There were now seven people at the table and it was getting rather crowded. One of the workers at the Burger joint noticed this and brought over an extra two chairs for Momoshiro and his friend.

'Arigatou' said Fuji with his melodious voice. He thanked the worker on behalf of Momoshiro and his friend as she placed down the chairs. The female worker literally had hearts in her eyes as she walked off.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

'Saa, shall we do some introductions?' asked Fuji.

Most of us nodded since not all of us knew who everyone was.

'Okay! I'll start. We'll go around in a circle' said Eiji.

'Kikumaru Eiji, Class 3-A'

'Fuji Syusuke, Class 3-A'

'Nanami Risa, Class 3-A'

'Ryoma Echizen, Class 1-C'

'Momoshiro Takeshi, Class 2-B'

'Oishi Shuichiro, class 3-B'

'Kirino Mai, Class 2-C'

'There's one more person.' I said.

The door to the burger joint opened.

'Ah! Just in time Miyuki-chan. We were just doing introductions. Go on, its your turn to introduce yourself.' I said.

She smiled shyly at all the people at our table.

'Aisaharu Miyuki, Class 1-C'

'Miyuki-chan, you're in the same class as Echizen!' pointed out Momoshiro.

The two first years met each other's eyes for a brief second.

'Hai, we're in the same class. Echizen-san sits two seats behind me.' answered Miyuki.

Mai who was sitting across from me had a cheeky smile on her face. I looked at her strangely.

'Mai-chan, are you okay?' I asked.

She leaned to my ear and whispered something.

'Don't you think they look cute together?'

I looked at the two freshmen.

'Not really.' I answered.

Mai pouted and leaned back on her chair.

She looked genuinely upset so I was about to console her until someone entered the Burger Joint. I took one look at the person who had entered and gasped.

**End Of Chapter 7**

Ahahaha. There's a cliffhanger this time, although its not a very good one. Find out what happens next time! Thank you to the people who have added my story to their favourites or alerts, it makes me feel happy that there are people who want to follow my story. Hopefully you guys will review for me!

Until next time!


	8. Incredible creulty

**Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis or any of its characters.**

I want to thank Love in Snow, who has been giving me advice and ideas on my story. Without her, this story would be a lot more cliché and Fuji would be even more OC than he is already.

She has also written a fanfiction on Fuji called sophistication. It's cute and humorous and it provides great entertainment when you're bored.

As usual, I send my thanks to all my reviewers. Please continue to support my story. Here's chapter 8!

Recap

Mai-chan, are you okay?' I asked.

She leaned to my ear and whispered something.

'Don't you think they look cute together?'

I looked at the two freshmen.

'Not really.' I answered.

Mai pouted and leaned back on her chair.

She looked genuinely upset so I was about to console her until someone entered the Burger Joint. I took one look at the person who had entered and gasped.

**Chapter 8**

'Nya! Rin-chan, did you come here to eat too?' asked Eiji with excitement.

Her eyes flickered to mine for a second.

'A-Ah no, I work here actually.'

Rin took an apron from another worker and came to our table.

'What would you like to order?' she asked, with a fake smile on her face.

Eiji didn't seem to notice the fakeness of the smile and started ordering things for everyone. After he had finished ordering, I saw Oishi discretely check his wallet before sighing.

'Oishi-san, I'll half the bill with you.' I said, feeling sorry for him.

He smiled and nodded in thanks. The atmosphere lightened and Oishi seemed much more at ease from then on.

'Fujiko! Where are you going?' asked Eiji.

'Bathroom' replied Fuji.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

'Moshi Moshi, Airisu? I have some important news to tell you. Risa and Miyuki are at the burger joint with some of the regulars. There also seems to be one other girl with them, I think I've seen her in the tennis club before.' Said Rin

'Nani! I'll be there immediately. Make sure they don't leave before I arrive. I'll bring Riijiya along too.' Replied Airisu from the other end.

Rin hung up and prepared to bring some dishes to our table, unaware of the pair of blue orbs that had seen and heard everything.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

When Fuji came back, everyone scooted over and made room for him and just seconds later, Rin came with a few plates of food.

'I'll bring the rest over in a minute' she said.

I stared wide-eyed at the abundance of food before us.

'Eiji, was this really necessary?' I asked.

He was already gobbling down the food and he seemed oblivious to the fact that I had just spoken. I smiled. Eiji was just like a little boy.

I picked up a burger and prepared to bite into it.

_BAM!_

The sudden noise made me drop my burger back onto my plate and all the fillings fell out of it.

'YOU!'

I jumped in surprise and came face to face with a very angry Airisu. Her face was beet red, she was panting heavily and she was dressed in what looked suspiciously like pyjamas.

'How dare you ignore my warnings! Stay away from the regulars!' she said between huffs.

I just stayed silent, flabbergasted by her sudden outburst. She thought that I was mocking her by staying silent so she slapped me across the face in anger, leaving bright red finger marks on my face. Stinging pain erupted on my cheek and my hands came up to red markings. I just held them there, trying to clam the fire that was burning in my cheek.

My body was paralysed with shock, but it didn't seem like I was the only one in that state. All the workers and the people sitting at our table had similar expressions on their faces and Rin and Riijiya surprisingly, also seemed shaken by their leader's actions. Ignoring all the outraged stares that everyone was giving her, she then turned to her new target Miyuki, who was avoiding her piercing gaze.

'You bitch! You've decided to team up with this slut for revenge haven't you?' screeched Airisu.

Miyuki was so terrified that nothing could come out of her mouth.

'So you're mocking me too huh? Just like that useless tomato face over there.' Said Airisu, her voice rising in anger.

'N-No, S-Senpai, It-.'

She flinched and covered her face when she saw Airisu's hand jerk violently. She was about to hit Miyuki across the head, but a small yellow blur smashed into her wrist causing her to stop her attack. Echizen had Miyuki's tennis racquet over his shoulder and a second tennis ball in his hand.

'Senpai, don't you feel embarrassed bullying a kouhai in broad daylight? He asked, his golden brown orbs daring her to argue.

Although Echizen was a freshman, he had a confident, majestic aura that even made Airisu feel inferior. She tried to glare back at him but it was obvious that Echizen had won the fight. Riijiya placed a hand on Airisu's arm.

'Let's go.'

Airisu shrugged Riijiya's hand off her arm and gave me and Miyuki one last murderous glare before walking off.

_It looked like the drama was going to end._

'HOLD ON!'

_Or maybe not.._

Mai did a front flip and landed fight in front of Airisu.

'Don't you dare think that you can bully my friends and get away with it!' said Mai, pointing a finger right in front of Airisu's nose.

That sparked her anger and she let out a growl while trying to grab at Mai's finger, with the intention of twisting it. Mai had anticipated that, and she pulled her finger away in the nick of time.

'Tsk, tsk, tsk. Let's not get physical shall we?' said Mai with a cheeky grin.

Airisu's eyes were bloodshot as she lunged at Mai, but Oishi and Fuji intervened.

'Himeiji-san! I will not allow you to harm my friends like this. We are in public, please pull yourself together!'

Fuji said nothing, but his eyes were opened and they held no friendliness, they were dark and empty. Just by opening his eyes he had managed to convey a message so deep and terrifying, but because Airisu was so blinded by anger, she had ignored both their warnings.

'If you think you're so great, then I'll challenge you to a match. I'll even let you choose the subject of it.'

Mai's eyes lit up in response.

'Then what about we have a tennis match, buchou.'

_So Mai was in the tennis team too, I hadn't noticed._

'Risa-senpai, could I borrow your racquet?'

My brows furrowed in concern.

'Mai-chan, are sure that this is a good idea?' I whispered.

She gave me a wink and a thumbs up.

'I'll definitely win.' She said confidently.

I handed her my racquet and wished her the best of luck.

Airisu had already left, she had promised to meet us at the street tennis courts that in ten minutes. Also, because of all this drama, we didn't get to finish our food, so Rin was packing it all away for us in take-away containers before we left.

**Ten Minutes Later**

Airisu was there as promised and Riijiya was by her side attending to her every need. Rin was also there, it seemed like she had switched her working time with another person.

Mai-chan was on the court doing her stretches. Her cheerful, easy-going aura was gone and her face was serious. Eiji backed away from the fence that separated us from the tennis courts.

'Mai-chan looks scary, nya!'

All of us nodded in agreement. Fuji walked into the courts.

'I'll be the umpire for this match' he offered. Neither of them opposed this, in fact, Airisu looked pleased.

'Kyaa! Fuji-sama!' she squealed.

_Talk about a personality change! _

Fuji's eyes snapped open and his gaze was cold and harsh. A small frown formed on Airisu's face.

_That's okay. After he sees me play, he'll fall head over heels in love with me,_ she thought to herself.

Mai and Airisu both headed to the net.

'Smooth or rough?' asked Fuji.

'Rough' answered Mai.

He spun the racquet and it landed on smooth. He wordlessly handed the tennis ball to Airisu, and she purposely took the ball from his hand in a way that would ensure skin contact. Fuji flinched involuntarily when her skin met his, but it was such a small movement that no one noticed, or so he thought. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

When Fuji took the ball from Airisu's hand, I noticed how he flinched. It was a movement that many people wouldn't notice, but I was one of the few people who could.

Whenever I had sudden flashbacks or memories of my father, I would always react like that, but I had learned to make my actions so small, almost unnoticeable, to avoid troubling my mother.

'Risa-chan, RISA-CHAN!'

I snapped out of my thoughts and saw Eiji's face just centimetres from mine. I backed away, uncomfortable with the close proximity, but he didn't seem to notice.

'Mai-chan just won the first game!' he said.

Sure enough, I saw Mai preparing to serve. I felt bad for spacing out in such an important game, so I focused all my attention to what was happening.

Mai threw the ball up into the air and slammed it down. The serve was a very fast one and Airisu only just managed to return it. Mai gracefully hit the ball back in one swift movement and it landed in the spot furthest away from where Airisu was standing.

'Mai-chan is good!' I said.

'It makes me feel like having a match against her' agreed Miyuki.

'So playing with me is not fun enough is it?'

Miyuki's eyes widened.

'N-No, Risa-senpai, it's not like that.

I laughed.

'I was just kidding Miyuki, don't get too worried about it.'

She sighed in relief and we both turned our attention back to the match. Both of them were very good players, they were slim, fast and agile but they both lacked in strength. Mai had seemed to have more advantages though. She was so agile it was scary and she had much more stamina that Airisu. Mai was only sweating lightly while Airisu was pink in the face and panting heavily.

Mai was also cunning, she knew how short-tempered Airisu was, so she purposely did meaningless flips and cartwheels around the court while returning balls just to mock Airisu who was having trouble just running and hitting the balls back.

'Game won by Kirino Mai. 2-0 Change courts'

As they walked past each other, Airisu sent Mai a withering glare and Mai winked in reply.

'I love you too' she said smiling.

Airisu scowled and Mai giggled as she got into position.

Airisu served.

'Fault'

She bit her lip and served again. Once again, it was a fault.

'O-15'

She snarled and threw her racquet on the ground.

'Himeiji-san, serve' said Fuji.

She picked up her racquet and served over and over again.

'0-40'

I laughed from the sidelines. Mai was very clever. She had managed to disturb Airisu's concentration by making her angry, and it was obviously a very effective strategy. Airisu did three double faults in a row.

I knew that I wasn't supposed to call out during a tennis match, but this was an un-official one so I disregarded the rules for a second.

'Good Job Mai!'

She grinned and we did high fives in the air.

Airisu glared at me so I decided to borrow Mai's strategy for a moment. I smiled sweetly and blew her a kiss. I could almost see the flames flare out from Airisu.

'Risa-san, please refrain-'

'Yes, yes, I know you're going to tell me to shut up, and I will, I've already said what I wanted to say.' I said, cutting Fuji off.

His everlasting smile grew just a bit and he gave me a thumbs up in an angle where Airisu couldn't see a thing. After he had turned around, I felt my smile grow wider just by a fraction too.

The tennis match continued and not long after, it was 4-1 with Mai in the lead. She was winning easily, but it was obvious that she was still holding back. In one of her service games, she won with just aces. I could feel the excitement radiate from Miyuki, who was right beside me, it was obvious that she really wanted to be on the courts playing a game as well.

'Miyuki-chan, do you want to have a quick game on the spare court over there?' I asked.

She looked at me unsurely.

'But Mai-senpai is still playing her match!'

'It's obvious that she'll win, we can just come back to congratulate her when she finishes.'

Miyuki could hold back her excitement no longer. Her eyes shone as she grabbed her tennis equipment.

'Let's go senpai'

'Echizen-kun, come call us when Mai-Chan's match is over' I said

His eyes flickered to us for a second.

'Usu.'

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

'Game won by Kirino Mai. 5-1'

'Heh…. Mai-senpai's not bad'

'Mai-chan is awesome!' said Eiji.

The game was nearing its end so Echizen left his place and headed towards the spare court where Miyuki and I were playing at. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I smashed the ball down onto Miyuki's side.

'What's the score now?' I asked

'26-34' she replied.

As usual, Miyuki was in the lead. We weren't scoring the proper way, we just got one point for every shot the other person missed, after all, it wasn't an official match, it was just warm ups.

I served once again, and we rallied lightly for a while. Deciding it was time; I hit a faster, stronger shot, earning myself yet another point. The score was now 27-34. I only needed 7 points to be equal with her.

'Mai-senpai's match is just about over' informed Echizen.

I groaned. I was just starting to catch up to her too.

'I guess you win Miyuki-chan.'

She smiled and we packed up our equipment. We then headed back the court where Airisu and Mai were playing. We got there just in time to see Mai hit her finishing shot.

'Game won by Kirino Mai. 6-1'

'Mai-chan, that was awesome!'

I ran to towards her and gave her a bone-crushing hug. We high fived each other and headed out of the courts. On the way out, we pulled an ugly face at Airisu and our grins grew bigger as we saw her fuming.

_How dare they make fun of me, the almighty queen of the school, Airisu Himeiji!_

Airisu gripped her racquet tighter and ran towards the person closest to her. She lifted her racquet and prepared to strike it down.

'Risa-senpai! Watch out!' called Miyuki.

I had never heard her sound so urgent before. I turned around at the last moment, to see Airisu bringing down her racquet on me.

**End of Chapter 8**

OMG!! Another cliff-hanger. I think this one is slightly better than the last one. I hope my readers are enjoying my story. Remember to review on your way out. I'll try to update more often if I get more reviews. :)

Until Next time!


	9. Rivalry and Injury

**Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of tennis or any of the characters in Prince Of Tennis**

I've had lots of inspiration lately, all these really good ideas just popped into my head. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, and I owe an especially big thank you to Sadari, Dragon Reverb, Love in Snow, Luna Starz, Riropin and FlamingSnow who have reviewed for pretty much every single one of my chapters. I love and adore each and every single one of you! Here's chapter 9!

Recap

'Mai-chan, that was awesome!'

I ran to towards her and gave her a bone-crushing hug. We high fived each other and headed out of the courts. On the way out, we pulled an ugly face at Airisu and our grins grew bigger as we saw her fuming.

How dare they make fun of me, the almighty queen of the school, Airisu Himeiji!

Airisu gripped her racquet tighter and ran towards the person closest to her. She lifted her racquet and prepared to strike it down.

'Risa-senpai! Watch out!' called Miyuki.

I had never heard her sound so urgent before. I turned around at the last moment, to see Airisu bringing down her racquet on me.

Chapter 9

It was already too late to move. All I could do was bring up my arms to block the blow.

Fuji came down from the umpire's chair and walked a few metres behind Mai and I. He saw us both make ugly faces at Airisu's and chuckled at our childishness. He stopped for a moment and waited for Airisu's reaction. She started fuming and he could see the imaginary steam markings come from her ears. He tried to stifle his laughter to try avoid making Airisu angrier than she already was. Suddenly, a strange glint glowed in her eyes. That look, he had seen it before, it was so familiar.

**Flashback: Two years ago**

'_You think you're so good don't you?' sneered a third year._

'_You're just a first year yet you're so overconfident and arrogant.' _

'_People like you don't deserve to be in the tennis team'_

_Tezuka, who was silent till then, lifted his head. In his usual monotone he stated, _

'_It is you who does not belong in this tennis club.'_

_One of the third years snarled. An evil glint was in his eyes as he lifted his racquet and smashed it onto Tezuka's left arm, the arm he used for tennis._

Fuji's eyes snapped open. _It couldn't be._ He watched as Airisu picked up her racquet and charged at the person closest to her. It was Risa. His usually calm mind was filled with panicked thoughts.

'Risa-senpai, watch out!' called Miyuki.

_So she had noticed it too._ Fuji ran towards Risa and he saw the frightened look that crept onto her face as Airisu neared.

I waited for the impact of the racquet but I felt nothing. I opened my eyes to see Fuji's body in front of mine. The blow, which was meant for my head, had connected with his arm.

'F-Fuji' stuttered Airisu.

The racquet dropped from her hands and it clattered noisily onto the floor. By now, everyone was on the courts staring at Airisu. Eiji 's usual bouncy attitude was gone and Oishi's eyebrows were creased with worry. Airisu burst into tears and ran away.

Riijiya followed her, being the faithful sidekick she was.

My mind just blanked out. Mai Miyuki put a comforting arm around me and Mai looked like she was about to cry.

'Fuji! We need to get you some medical treatment. My uncle's clinic is not far from here.' Said Oishi, trying to remain calm.

Fuji flexed his arm slightly and winced.

'It should be okay. The redness and swelling should be better after a few days.' He said.

'NO!' I shouted.

'You're going to the clinic whether you want to or not.'

I grabbed Fuji's uninjured arm and dragged him out of the courts.

'Matte, Risa-san! The clinic is that way.' Said Oishi, pointing to a different direction.

Fuji chuckled and I sent him a dark glare.

'Don't you dare laugh, not with your arm in this state.' I said.

Luckily, Fuji's house was nearby so he called his sister and asked her to pick him up. Around two minutes later, a white car pulled up at the side to the road.

'Syusuke, how's your arm?' asked his sister.

'It should be fine' he replied as he got into the car.

There wasn't enough for everybody; only three more people could fit. Oishi took up the third spot because he needed to point out directions to the clinic, so only two spots remained. Eiji plonked himself on a seat.

'I'm definitely coming.' He said.

'Risa-senpai, you should go too,' said Miyuki softly. No one seemed to object so I took my tennis equipment from Miyuki and got in as well.

Through the window, I waved goodbye to whoever was remaining.

'Is Fuji-senpai going to be alright?' asked Mai in a trembling voice.

Momoshiro's expression was tense.

'I don't know. Airisu seemed to have hit him pretty hard. I hope it doesn't affect his play.'

Momoshiro looked at Mai and saw her lower lip trembling. It looked like her eyes were tearing up as well. A nervous expression appeared on his face.

'I-I was kidding. Of course Fuji-senpai's going to be all right. He's going to be perfectly fine'

Mai plonked herself on the ground and started bawling. Momoshiro had no idea what to do and even Echizen looked a bit put off. They both turned to Miyuki for help but they turned away once they saw her expression. Her eyes were starting to puff up and her nose was pink.

'Echizen, what to we do?' whispered Momo.

'Let's ask Rin senpai for help.' answered Echizen.

The two of them dragged Rin over to the other two girls.

Rin sighed. She plonked herself in front of Mai and pinched her cheeks. Mai looked up in surprise with tears and snot running down from her eyes and nose. She was a pathetic sight.

'Do you think that crying will help Fuji?' Rin asked.

'If you want to help get a taxi and ask them to take you to the clinic.'

Rin put a packet of tissues on Mai's hand and walked away leaving Momoshiro staring at her back with widened eyes.

'Aish, Rin senpai didn't help at all.' He muttered.

Mai's eyes fogged up with tears.

'Waaahh! I'm so stupid. Why am I so useless.'

She was now crying harder than before.

'Senpai, lets make a run for it.' Said Echizen.

Momoshiro nodded vigorously.

Miyuki tugged at their sleeves.

She looked so pitiful and weak in her state. Momoshiro gave her a big hug.

'Aww.. Echizen, just look at her. She's so cute, we can't just leave her here.'

Echizen pulled down his cap.

'Che'

'Fuji-kun, you've suffered quite a heavy blow to your arm, but luckily for you, it wasn't at a joint like Tezuka's so there shouldn't be any permanent damage.' Said the doctor.

'How long will it take to heal?' asked Fuji.

'Three weeks at least.'

Eiji and Oishi heaved a sigh of relief. The district tournament was in a month so it gave Fuji just enough time to heal.

We thanked Oishi's uncle and left the clinic. It was good that Fuji would be healed in time for the district tournaments, but the down side was that he wouldn't be able to attend the training sessions. Well, the doctor said he could, as long as he didn't put too much pressure on his arm.

'It's getting late, do you think that everyone could have dinner at our place?' asked Fuji.

His sister nodded.

'Everyone get into the car!'

Mai had calmed down after Momoshiro said he'd treat her to some ice cream so Miyuki was left alone with Echizen.

Echizen being Echizen was ignoring her presence and sleeping under a tree. Miyuki on the other hand was feeling very uncomfortable with the awkward silence.

'Ah! I can't take it anymore. Echizen Ryoma, I challenge you to a match!' she said, speaking louder than usual.

Echizen's lifted his cap off his face at the mention of a match. He smirked.

'Be prepared to lose.'

'Ehh? Where's Echizen and Miyuki-chan?' asked Momoshiro once they had reached the spot where they had left the two.

Mai grinned cheekily.

'Can't you see? Those two are in love!' she chirped.

'Momoshiro's eyes widened.

'You've got to be kidding. To think that brat got a girlfriend faster than I did….'

'Mai-senpai, what's wrong?' he asked, noticing the sudden change in her aura.

'Miyuki and Ryoma look so cute together. But they're never going to get together.'

'How do you know? He queried.

'BECAUSE!'

'….'

'Just get on with it!' yelled Momoshiro, unable to stand the suspense.

'They're both tennis obsessed freaks.'

Momo looked around and saw what she was talking about. At the tennis courts where Mai and Airisu were previously playing, stood Echizen and Miyuki.

The score was currently 5-4 with Echizen in the lead. Although Echizen wasn't playing to his full potential, he had to admit, Miyuki was good, for a girl.

It was Miyuki's serve. A very uncharacteristic, frustrated expression was on her face. She knew that Echizen wasn't playing to his full potential. She had heard all the rumours about the freshman prodigy and she knew that he had a twist serve that he had not yet unleashed.

_He doesn't think you're worthy to be his opponent. _Her inner voice told her.

Miyuki's eyes hardened. She flew the ball in the air and smashed it to the other side in one swift movement. Echizen wasn't even given the chance to return it.

'15-0'

Echizen's smirk grew by a bit.

'Mada Mada Dane.'

Miyuki's eyebrows furrowed together. She knew that he said this when he started taking an opponent seriously but she couldn't help but feel annoyed at what he had said.

She brushed all thoughts away. For now, she wanted to concentrate on winning. She served again, and like the first one, it was fast and powerful.

'30-0'

'Whoo! Go Miyuki-chan. Kick that arrogant brat's ass! yelled Mai.

A small smile broke out on Miyuki's face while Echizen lowered his cap.

'Such an annoying senpai,' he murmured.

'Echizen-san, I'm serving.'

Just then, Momoshiro's phone rang.

'Ah! It's a text message from Fuji-senpai.'

That caught everyone's attention.

'He said that his armis fine and that we're invited over for dinner.'

'I think I should go home, its getting late.' said Miyuki as she packed away her racquet.

'Risa-senpai is there already.' Said Momoshiro.

Miyuki smiled softly.

'I guess I'm coming then'

The four of them walked together to Fuji's house.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

'No! No! Noooo!' screamed Eiji as game over appeared on the screen.

'Oh my gosh, you're terrible!' I said as I watched him play.

He sniffed sulkily.

'Fine. Beat this level if you're so good.'

I laughed.

'Okay.'

Within 10 minutes, I finished the level.

'Oh yes! Risa-chan, I love you!' screamed Eiji, hugging me.

I held out the controller, but he pushed it back to me.

'Do the next level too!' he ordered.

I held out the controller to Fuji.

'You play' I said.

Fuji took the controller from my hand and completed the next level in 5 minutes.

'Nya! Fujiko is even better than Risa!'

I narrowed my eyes.

'I'll finish that level in three minutes' I snapped.

Fuji handed me the controller as if daring me to try.

I took it began the level, making sure that I checked the time every so often.

'Almost, almost…' I whispered under my breath.

'Finished!' I yelled.

'Saa.. Too bad, you went overtime by 2 seconds.' Said Fuji.

I checked the time. Sure enough, I had taken 3 minutes and 2 seconds to complete it. I scowled and sank down into my chair.

_Ding Dong_

'Ah! They're here.' Said Fuji, heading to the door to let his guests in.

I looked at Eiji.

'Who is he talking about?' I asked.

'Let's go see!' he said, dragging me from my seat.

'Fuji-senpai! Thank you for inviting us to dinner. How's your arm?' asked Momoshiro

'It's fine, there's no need to worry about me' replied Fuji.

'Miyuki-chan!'

I ran up to her and gave her a big hug. The rest of them came inside and all of us sat at the dinner table. Oishi had just finished helping Yumiko-san with all the dishes.

Dinner was very lively with so many people at one table. It was so different to when I was at home. Eiji had tried to talk with his mouth full at one point and he spat some food onto Momoshiro's rice bowl. That was the first time I had seen Momoshiro lose his appetite. He had refused to eat after that and Eiji seemed really happy that there was no one to fight with for food.

'The lucky last piece of sushi is all mine' said Eiji reaching out for it.

Mai beat him.

'This piece of sushi is mine.' She argued.

He snatched it from her hands.

'It's mine, Nya!'

'Maa… Eiji, be a gentleman and give the sushi to Mai-chan.' Said Fuji.

Eiji pouted.

'I would be a lady if it meant i could have the last piece of sushi.' sulked Eiji, reluctantly letting go of the sushi.

Mai took it and ate it happily. Eiji looked so depressed so I offered him a piece of sushi from my bowl.

'It's not the same type of sushi as the one that you and Mai were fighting over, but if you want it, you can take it.' I said.

His face brightened immediately.

The rest of dinner was pretty much uneventful. After we packed up the dishes, most of us had to leave since it was getting late.

Fuji stood at the doorway to see us off but I lingered behind.

'I just want to thank you for helping me today. I hope your arm recovers soon'

I bowed and tried to run off but he grabbed my arm and stopped me.

'Be careful of those girls. Let's hope that there will be no repeater of what happened today.'

I nodded and smiled at him.

'Goodnight' I whispered.

I then caught up with Miyuki and the others.

Mai nudged me.

'Have a little private moment with Fuji did you?' she asked, grinning cheekily.

She purposefully said it loudly so that everyone could hear. My face flushed pink.

'I-It's not like that.' I stuttered.

Mai rubbed her chin with her fingers in a thoughtful pose.

'Very suspicious. 1. You blushed. 2. You stuttered 3. You're in strong denial.' She said nodding.

'You like him don't you?'

An electric shock was shot through my body.

_There was no way… right?_

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Everyone had split up to go their separate ways home. Echizen had ended up walking with Miyuki since their houses were both in a similar direction. Neither of them said much the whole way through. When they neared Miyuki's house, she stopped and gave him a competitive stare.

'The next time I play you, don't hold back, otherwise you'll lose.'

'Mada Mada dane'

'Right back at you'

She then entered her house without a single glance backwards.

_Aisaharu Miyuki heh?_

He had never payed much attention to her. She had always simply been a shadow in the background. At school, she hid behind a shy, clumsy and mildly cute façade, but after seeing her tennis play, he could tell that she was one to watch out for. When she played tennis, she was calm, confident and determined, unlike her off court self. Although he would never admit it, he was looking forward to their next match.

_She was one interesting person._

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

'_Very suspicious. 1. You blushed. 2. You stuttered 3. You're in strong denial.' She said nodding. _

'_You like him don't you?'_

I hugged my pillow to my chest. There was no way that I would like that jerk!

He was sadistic, evil and took ugly pictures of me! Surely I had better taste than that right? Out of all people why would I like him? I shook my head. No way! Of course I don't like him!

_I waited for the impact of the racquet but I felt nothing. I opened my eyes to see Fuji's body in front of mine. The blow, which was meant for my head, had connected with his arm._

_***_

'_You're in strong denial.'_

'_You like him don't you?'_

_***_

I groaned. It was going to be a long, long night.

**End of Chapter 9**

I'm finally starting to incorporate romance into my story! This what you guys have all been waiting for! I know I'm a really draggy writer, but that's just my style so I hope you guys don't mind. Please review on your way out. I don't care if its only 2 words, I just really, really love reviews! 


	10. Ranking tournaments

I know i haven't updated in a while, so I'm really sorry. I know my readers must hate me.. Well you guys are gonna hate me even more when you hear this.. I'm discontinuing Fading Maples. D: I really didn't plan out the story and i don't know where I'm gonna take it so I've decided to stop writing for a while and clear my thoughts a little. But don't worry, I'll be re posting Fading Maples in December, the new and improved version so watch out for that! I hope you will support my story when i post it again.

I'll be deleting this story by the end of May/early June. Well here's chapter 10!

Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of tennis or any of the characters in Prince Of Tennis

Chapter 10

The long awaited ranking tournaments had finally arrived. All the girls who had signed up were lined up by year, waiting for instructions from Ryuuzaki-sensei who was standing at the front along with the male tennis regulars. Their ranking matches were already finished and they were going to be assessing the matches.

Everyone was listening to Ryuuzaki-sensei explain all the stages of the ranking tournament.

'The ranking tournament will be different from the boys. Too many girls have signed up for the ranking tournaments, so we will not have time to play matches. Instead, we are going to have stages that each person must pass. Listen carefully, there are the stages:

Serves

Returns

Endurance

Aim

If more than five girls pass these stages, the regulars will be determined by the boy's tennis team and myself. Understood?'

'Understood' chorused the girls.

There was excitement all over the courts. After all, everyone wanted the chance to train together with the legendary boys tennis regulars.

'Risa-chan, Miyuki-chan!'

We turned around to see Eiji, Fuji, Echizen and Momoshiro.

'Good luck!' said Eiji, giving both of us bear hugs.

'Do your best' said Fuji.

'_You're in strong denial.'_

'_You like him don't you?'_

My eyes widened.

'_I did not need these distractions on such an important day_.' I tied not to look into Fuji's eyes as I grabbed Miyuki's arm.

'We need to warm up, so we'll be leaving first. Thank you for your concern' I said robotically while bowing.

I then walked off swiftly with Miyuki in tow, leaving Eiji staring at our backs in question.

'Risa-senpai's just nervous,' reassured Momoshiro.

Eiji nodded reluctantly.

The first stage of the ranking matches began. The task was to serve a ball to the other side of the court, which I thought was pretty straightforward but surprisingly, a lot of girls got eliminated. After the first stage was over, two thirds of the people who had signed up were gone.

'Ah! Risa-senpai, Miyuki-chan!'

I froze momentarily. _Oh no! Not Eiji again!_

'Mai-senpai!' said Miyuki in surprise.

I relaxed. It was just Mai. I felt myself being hugged from behind.

'Mai-chan! Good to see you again. Are you participating in the ranking tournament?'

She nodded happily.

'Yup! I passed the first stage already.'

'Same here!' Miyuki and I replied in unison.

'HEAVE YOUR PUNY ASSES OVER HERE! THE SECOND STAGE IS ABOUT TO START.'

All three of us shivered. We scurried over to Ryuuzaki-sensei as fast as possible.

_____________________________________________________________________

The second stage was returns. The remaining girls were divided into eight groups. Each group then had to go into a court where a regular would serve a ball and the girls had to return it. Each girl was given three chances.

Miyuki, Mai and I were all in group 8 so we headed down to the eighth tennis court to begin our second stage challenge. Three other girls were already there. As we neared, I recognised them. They were none other than Airisu, Riijiya and Rin.

I was expecting their usual taunts, but instead I was greeted by a smug grin from Airisu. She looked us over before walking into the court with Riijiya and Rin behind her.

I looked at Miyuki who was also looking back at me with confusion written all over her face.

'Ha! I scared her off with my amazing tennis skills didn't I?' said Mai with pride.

I laughed.

'Good job!' I said, remembering the events that occurred less than a week ago.

The three of us went into the courts with our spirits lifted significantly. When we entered, Airisu, Riijiya and Rin had already finished. All three of them had already passed.

'See you in the third stage, if you make it.' Sneered Riijiya as she walked by.

Airisu gave her a grin that said '_good job' _and Riijiya's face lit up as she followed Airisu like a puppy.

'Che. I don't have forever you know.'

It seemed like the regular who would be assessing us was Echizen. I did a victory dance in my mind. At least it wasn't Fuji.

Mai was up first. Echizen gave her a light serve and she hit it back with ease. He gave her the ticket to the third stage and she stood on the sidelines waiting for me and Miyuki to finish.

I was up next. He served lightly once again.

'_You're in strong denial.'_

'_You like him don't you?'_

My eyes hardened. _Fuji was so annoying! He had been the subject of my thoughts for god knows how long and he was distracting me at such an important moment!_

I imagined the ball was his head and I slammed it back to Echizen with all the force I could muster. Echizen's cocky smirk grew a bit.

'Not bad, senpai.' He said as he handed me my ticket.

I ruffled his hair. I knew that it was Echizen's way of complimenting me. He obviously didn't seem very happy about me ruffling his hair, but he let it slide.

Finally it was Miyuki's turn. She seemed very fired up for some reason.

'_The next time I play you, don't hold back, otherwise you'll lose.'_

'_Mada Mada dane'_

'_Right back at you'_

Echizen remembered her words very well. A competitive smirk grew on his face. He threw the ball up into the air and served. It was a lightning fast shot. I opened my mouth to protest but Mai covered my mouth. _It was so unfair. _

Miyuki ran towards the ball and slammed it back, right at Echizen's face. He moved his head to the side and the ball missed him by a few millimetres. Miyuki imitated his typical Echizen pose with the racquet over her shoulder.

'Mada Mada Dane' she said, trying to imitate his catchphrase.

There was a moment's silence.

'Ahahahahahahahahaha'

Miyuki turned to see the rest of the regulars and Ryuuzaki-sensei outside the courts laughing. Eiji was rolling on the floor, his face beet red. It looked like he was almost suffocating. Miyuki was stunned for a second but soon joined in. The only person who wasn't laughing was Echizen. He wasn't too happy about the fact that a girl had just made fun of his catchphrase.

The third stage was about to begin and all the girls who had qualified stood in one straight line. There were only 17 left compared to the 198 that had signed up for the ranking tournament.

'The third test is endurance. All seventeen girls will have to run around the courts 10 times. The last seven girls who finish the 10 laps will be cut!'

'START NOW!' roared Ryuuzaki-sensei.

All the girls scrambled to their feet and started running. I ran alongside Miyuki and Mai and we were right at the back of the line but we knew that we were going to catch up fast. The girls at the front were sprinting at a furious pace and we could tell that they would be exhausted soon enough.

Sure enough, we passed most of the girls since they had slowed to a jog or started walking. We maintained the medium paced run throughout the 10 laps and we soon also overtook Airisu and Riijiya.

Riijiya looked like she would have no trouble to keep up with our pace but she tried to match Airisu's slow pace like the faithful sidekick she was. The only person in front of us now was Rin.

We caught up to her but she didn't seem to want to give up the lead so she sped up.

Mai grinned.

'Let's speed up too'

We started running faster, but didn't sprint in order to conserve energy. Rin was becoming tired but so were we, so the four of us ended up being tied at first place. We watched as Riijiya and Airisu passed the finish line. They too had passed, but just barely, they came in at 9th and 10th.

The task for the fourth stage was to hit a target. A black board placed 50 metres in front of us and we had to hit at least 5/7 times. Rin, Mai and Miyuki finished the task with ease, hitting the board all seven times. Riijiya and Airisu also passed, hitting the board 6/7 times. As for me, I passed just barely. I scraped past with 5/7 hits. We were the only people to pass the fourth and final stage.

The final six lined up in front of Ryuuzaki-sensei and the regulars.

'Congratulations on making it to the final round. The chosen regulars will be announced tomorrow at your tennis practice. You are dismissed.'

As soon as we were dismissed, Miyuki, Mai and I ran into the change rooms to have a shower. Airisu stared at our backs in disgust.

'Look at those sweaty beasts run for those disgusting showers. They obviously have no pride at all.'

'Saa, are you saying that our school facilities are not up to standard?' asked Fuji, who passed by.

Airisu stared at the towel that was slung over his shoulder and the bottles of body wash, shampoo and conditioner in his hands. It was obvious that he too was heading for the showers. Airisu's face flushed as she realised the mistake she had made. She tried to speak but all her words came out either slurred or stuttered. Fuji walked into the change room without waiting for reply; his only motive was to embarrass her, not to hear her make excuses.

Airisu had tears of anguish in her eyes. _I embarrassed myself in front of Fuji-sama! _She ran off feeling devastated and her two companions followed behind her as usual.

Rin took one last glance backwards before following Airisu. _Did Fuji just go into the girls change rooms? _She shook her head rapidly. _Tensai's don't make that kind of mistake!_ She thought.

When Fuji went into the change rooms, he heard three showers already running.

_Strange, the regulars had already left and the rest of the tennis club wasn't called on for training today._

'Ahhh! Risa-senpai, Miyuki-chan.' I left my towel and change of clothes in my locker. Can someone fetch it for me?'

Fuji froze. That was Mai-chan's voice. _What was she doing in the boys change room? _he thought. He turned to face the entrance and saw the sign. _Girls Change room._

'I left my towel in my locker too. Risa-senpai, can you fetch it for me as well.' asked Miyuki from her shower cubicle.

'Sure' I answered.

I got out of the shower and wrapped a towel around myself. My clothes and shoes were on a bench outside the shower cubicle. When I walked out, I saw Fuji at the entrance; his eyes were opened to reveal those cerulean blue orbs. He was staring at me in shock.

'FU-..'

He covered my mouth and dragged me out of the change room before I could do or say anything more.

'Risa-senpai, what's wrong? Called both Mai and Miyuki.

They were greeted by silence.

When we were out of the change room, I licked Fuji's hand. He pulled it away from my mouth instantly.

'WHAT ARE YOU DOING? YOU DO REALISE THAT I ONLY HAVE A TOWEL ON RIGHT?'

He quickly apologised.

'Just don't say anything out me being in the chan-..'

By then I had already run back into the change rooms. Fuji groaned. If word of this ever got out, his reputation would be ruined. He quickly barged into the change rooms to explain everything but instead he saw Risa half dressed. I gasped after seeing Fuji at the doorway. He quickly covered his eyes and closed the door, but not before I threw someone's clothes at him.

When Fuji was out of the change room he took the clothing off his head. After seeing what it was, his eyes widened considerably. _Frilly pink underwear?_ He knew he had to return it, but he didn't try to barge into the change room again. _Once bitten, twice shy._

When I had finished changing, I contemplated on whether I should go out or not. I hoped that Fuji wasn't there.

'Risa-senpai, hurry up! We're really cold. We need our towels NOW!' whined Mai.

I stood up in surprise. I had totally forgotten! Oh well, that meant I had to go out. I peeked through the gap in the side of the door. Fuji was still there! He was looking in a different direction though. I decided to make a run for it. 3, 2, 1. BAM!

I swung the door open and ran like mad. Fuji barely had time to register what was happening. After his head cleared, he started chasing after me. I ran all the way to the lockers and grabbed Miyuki and Mai's things. I looked around cautiously. _Good seemed like I had lost Fuji._

When I had almost reached the change rooms, I head someone call my name. I turned and took one look at the person. It was Fuji! I ran even faster. I was almost at the change rooms. I ran inside and slammed the door shut. Sweat was trickling down my forehead. I sighed; I would probably have to take another shower at home. I threw Miyuki and Mai's things over their cubicle door and soon they came out.

'Senpai~ Took you so long. I was already dry by the time you brought me my towel' whinged Mai.

'S-sorry. I got caught up in a few things.'

I then continued to explain what had happened and both of them stared at me wide-eyed.

'Wow.' Breathed Mai.

'Senpai, did you throw my underwear on Fuji's head by any chance?' asked Miyuki.

_I gasped after seeing Fuji at the doorway. He quickly covered his eyes and closed the door, but not before I threw someone's clothes at him._

_When Fuji was out of the change room he took the clothing off his head. After seeing what it was, his eyes widened considerably. Frilly pink underwear?_

My mouth fell open.

'Was your underwear pink?' I asked.

Miyuki nodded silently.

I slapped myself on the forehead._ How thoughtless could I be?_

I went outside to find Fuji.

'Nya! Whose underwear is this?' asked Eiji, playfully nudging Fuji.

'Ne, Fuji-senpai, you're quite cunning.' Said Momoshiro with a cheeky grin on his face.

Even the usually quiet Echizen nodded in agreement. For once, Fuji didn't have anything to say. I swiftly grabbed the underwear from Fuji's hands and walked back into the change room before anyone could say anything.

Momoshiro and Eiji were both stunned.

'What were doing with Risa's underwear? They both asked.

Fuji grabbed his camera from thin air. _Most unfortunate_, _in this situation, I guess I have to resort to blackmail, _he thought.

_I waited for the impact of the racquet but I felt nothing. I opened my eyes to see Fuji's body in front of mine. The blow, which was meant for my head, had connected with his arm._

_***_

'_You're in strong denial.'_

'_You like him don't you?'_

'I like him…?' I unconsciously said out loud.

Realising what I had just done, I started slapping my lips.

'No, no, no you stupid girl. You do not like him. I repeat. YOU DO NOT LIKE HIM!' I had yelled it out so loud that all the people on the streets were staring.

***

_I waited for the impact of the racquet but I felt nothing. I opened my eyes to see Fuji's body in front of mine. The blow, which was meant for my head, had connected with his arm._

_He used his tennis arm to block the blow for me…_

_Of course I like him, I concluded. He was my friend._

'_Yeah, sure… friend…' _nagged my inner voice.

End of Chapter 10

I had fun writing this chapter and I hope that everyone got a good laugh out of it. Make sure you stay tuned for the next chapter. Reviews are highly appreciated! 


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